BONES Season 11 Premiere Post-Mortem: Michael Peterson on Those Heartbreaking Deaths and the Beautiful Montage

[Warning: this post contains spoilers for the BONES season 11 premiere. Please do not read this article until you’ve watched the episode.]

BONES kicked its 11th season off in a bit of a heartbreaking way: though the team feared for Booth’s life when remains were found near his gun, it turned out it was actually his brother, Jared, who died. (So, slightly less traumatic than last year’s opener. But only a bit.)

“It has a huge impact on Booth, but it’s also very symbolic of something even bigger than Jared’s death — it’s the acceptance of who Booth is,” BONES co-showrunner Michael Peterson acknowledged. “Whether he likes it or not, Booth is Superman, to a degree. He is that all-American boy scout. He’s not someone who can simply retire; if someone calls for help, he is there. He is going to put his life on the line, and do everything he can. A big part of it is him accepting who he is, and [when he gets home,] Brennan accepting that. It’s tough to see someone you love, and their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way. Most people who marry a police officer have to expect [that]. Booth is one of those type of heroes; he’s always going to put himself in harm’s way. And that’s going to play out in the season, and we’ll see the difficulty it brings to everyone else.”

While Booth was gone, Brennan had to thoroughly go over the skeletal remains the team feared belonged to her husband, and the result — a montage of Booth/Brennan scenes, corresponding to interactions the couple had with specific bones — was one of the best scenes the series has done.

“It turned out even better than we could have imagined,” Peterson gushed. “It was one of those ones where we wanted to make sure Booth’s presence was felt [in the episode], even when he wasn’t in parts of it. And it’s a testament to [the fact] that we have such great writers here who are just big fans of the show, also. And so it was the easiest thing to put together. It was just an argument of favorite moments with those stolen glances or where he’s holding her hand. It’s just a testament to the writers; we love the show that we work on. It was us arguing it out: what are the best moments? It was fantastic to trace all the best moments. We could have done a montage for 20 minutes, and it wouldn’t have felt like it dragged. It was fun to recreate all those moments we had before.”

On a slightly sadder note, the show also, subtly, acknowledged the passing of Ralph Waite’s Hank (AKA Booth’s Pops) by naming Booth and Brennan’s son after him. (Waite passed away 2014.)

“To be honest, that was a tough time,” Peterson admitted. “We loved working with him so much. But it’s one where I think he was also on NCIS, and they touched on his death in a very nice way. It was one of those things where we watched that and said, ‘They really did do a nice tribute.’ It isn’t something that’s been out-and-out said, but the implication is he has passed.”

–

What did you think of the BONES premiere?

BONES airs Thursdays at 8 PM on Fox.

Related:

BONES: What You Missed on Your Summer Vacation
BONES: Emily Deschanel on Kim Raver’s Character and Defending Booth
BONES Bosses on Embracing the Past, the ‘Energizing’ Season 11, and the Game-Changing Midseason Finale
BONES: ‘The Donor in the Drink’ Photos
BONES Season 11 Promo: Booth is Missing

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And to be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv