'Castle' Will Be Renewed For Season 5

[Brian Damage]

ABC is on the verge of issuing formal early renewals to nearly a dozen scripted series, including freshman hits Once Upon a Time and Revenge and established players Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy.

Although an ABC rep declined to comment, TVLine has learned that the network’s prelim pickup list also includes Castle, Suburgatory, Last Man Standing, Happy Endings, The Middle.

Cougar Town and Private Practice, meanwhile, remain question marks. Ditto midseason entries GCB and Missing. (The fate of Private Practice, ironically, likely hinges on the ratings performance of another Shonda Rhimes drama, the soon-to-debut Scandal.)

Considered long-shots for next fall are Body of Proof, Pan Am and (the possibly Netflix-bound) The River, although a final decision probably won’t come down on those fence-riders until the May upfronts. If cut loose, they would join the already-axed Charlie’s Angels, Man Up and Work It.

The Grey’s renewal comes as ABC continues to negotiate new deals with original castmembers Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Justin Chambers, Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson.

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