Laura Prepon Bringing the Heat to 'Castle'

Art is about to start imitating life on ABC’s Castle: Michael Ausiello reports exclusively for EW.com (for one of the last times before he starts his new gig at Nikki Finke's Deadline.com) that Laura Prepon is set to guest star on the series as Natalie Gray, an actress "who’s been cast as Nikki Heat in the movie version of our hero’s book Heat Wave."

As Nikki Heat, Gray (played by Prepon) will be playing a character based on Richard Castle's (Nathan Fillion) actual crime-fighting partner, Beckett. This film-based-on-a-book-within-the-show concept is already making my head hurt -- so to better understand the context of Heat Wave, enjoy this mock trailer, which premiered at Comic Con earlier this year:

The genius of introducing the character is that now, Castle will inadvertently be surrounded by two Becketts – or at the very least, two similarly attractive women. Whether the addition of this new character is supposed to help Castle realize how much he secretly loves Beckett or give him a new love interest is up for speculation.

It will be nice to see Prepon on television again. The actress, who is still best known as Donna on That 70’s Show, was a wonderful presence on the FOX hit but hasn’t done much since. Maybe this, along with her great recurring work on How I Met Your Mother last year, will get her back on Hollywood’s radar and in our living rooms more regularly.

Prepon will join the show early next year, though it is not known exactly when she will arrive or how long she will stick around. All we know is that the double identity will lead to some good television.

-- Elizabeth Espinoza