Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion will play a weatherman in the upcoming season of Modern Family Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly

Nathan Fillion may have hung up his boots as the best-selling mystery writer Richard Castle, but the actor has extended his run on ABC with a move to comedy. The lead in the hit crime show Castle which was cancelled after season 8, Fillion has signed on to star in a multi-episode arc on Modern Family.

The Prime Time Emmy award-winning show's co-creator Steve Levitan announced the news at the Television Critics Association's press tour on 4 August. Fillion will appear on the show as a weatherman named Rainer Shine "who gets involved with the Dunphys".

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Veteran actor Martin Short will also be starring on the show's second episode of the upcoming season. He is slotted to play Merv Schechter, a promotional maven. Short will also be seen on NBC's Hairspray Live.

Modern Family season 8 is expected to premiere on ABC on Wednesday (21 September) at 9pm CT.

The gig with Modern Family is set to be Fillion's longest stint in a TV comedy. He was recently among the ensemble cast of web series Con Man and co-starred in Joss Whedon's Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and had previously appeared in Community, Drunk History and Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place.

Addressing numerous queries regarding the network's decision to axe the much-loved procedural, Castle, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey explained that it was a case where you have things running on parallel tracks".

"We were upfront with the studio that we may not be renewingCastle. But they had to prepare for season 9 and do what they needed to do should there be a Season 9. Ultimately, the network's decision was not to go for Season 9," Dungey said, according to Deadline.