News from the Producers of Bones on Season Seven

The big question for viewers of Bones is whether or not the sexual tension between Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) will dissipate now that the two have gotten together and Bones is pregnant. 

During a conference call with reporters, two of the show’s executive producers, Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan, said they knew the answer to that question as soon as Deschanel brought them the news of her real-life pregnancy.  (She had a baby boy with husband David Hornsby in September.)

“At that moment, we knew what replaced sexual tension was an actual human being,“ Hanson said.

Bones, which returns to FOX for an abbreviated season of 17 episodes on Thursday, November 3^rd at 9 p.m., is in its seventh season. (Here's a clip.)

“We knew that Booth and Brennan would get together euphemistically in Season 6 and we knew it would be over the death of a beloved Squintern (Vincent Nigel-Murray played by Ryan Cartwright) and then we sort of got this big gift,” Hanson said, referring to Deschanel’s announcement.

Nathan added the writers are going to great lengths to make sure Bones and Booth don’t erode into the typical couple in love, who go out to dinner and can’t keep their hands off each other.  When that’s the case, said Nathan, “you want to kill them and never have dinner with them again.  So we wanted to avoid that dinner.  And we successfully did.  We have a couple who we can invite over every week for dinner and they’re great company. “

Hanson also said the characters’ previously theoretical discussions about the existence of God versus science will be taken to a new level since the two will be raising a child together. 

“It has to do with the upbringing and shaping of a human being.  That’s what I mean about it being such a gift to us.  It’s like, ‘Oh wow!’  This brings a whole new level to the disagreements these two radically different people have about the way the world works and where people fit in the world.”

In addition to the main romantic storyline, and the corpses whose murders they solve of course, the producers said there are some back stories they'll explore.  Hodgins’ (T.J. Thyne) brother will be introduced and the audience will learn more about his family, including some interesting tidbits about his grandfather.  Later in the season, the character of Dr. Camm Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) will have further problems with her daughter.

The writers have also been digging around to introduce new forensics technology so essential to the series, which the producers claim is true to real science. 

“I would say that 90% of the stuff that we do in the show is completely real and scientifically accurate.  We might stretch or shrink the time as necessary, but the science is correct and usually is mind boggling to us,” said Nathan.

Bones returns initially for six episodes.  There will then be a break because of Emily Deschanel’s pregnancy leave, and the series will be back in the Spring.  In the interim, FOX will launch The Finder, with appearances by Bones’ Dr. Sweets (John Francis Daley) and possibly T.J. Thyne.