BONES: Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan on the Season 7 Finale, Angela and Brennan’s Friendship, and More

It’s no secret that Brennan gives birth when BONES returns this Monday on Fox, but don’t expect that to drastically change her involvement in the crime-solving in the episodes that follow.

“We did not want to do a story where our main crime solver was at home for a number of episodes,” BONES creator Hart Hanson said on a conference call with reporters earlier today, reiterating that there would be a several week time jump post-birth. “That seemed to us a really good way to lose a ton of viewers and momentum. So it’s right back into the fray. Mind you, we do have to contend with who is going to take care of the baby and how is Brennan going to juggle being a mom and living with Booth and how is Booth going to juggle her and the baby and do their jobs. But they’re still doing their jobs.”

“We didn’t want to turn the show into some domestic show where the murder was a secondary aspect,” executive producer Stephen Nathan added. “The murder is still the primary focus of the show and their domestic lives are crucial and important and what we love about the show, but people are still dead.”

What else should you expect from BONES’ return?

Booth and Brennan may be coupled-up, but that doesn’t mean their professional partnership is at risk.

While the professional line had been used as an excuse for why Booth and Brennan shouldn’t get romantically together in the past, now that they’re an honest-to-goodness couple (and parents!), the FBI won’t be stepping in to ruin a perfectly good partnership.

“We’re not planning a storyline in which the FBI says, ‘You can’t be partners,'” Hanson said. “We discussed it, and then we thought, God, if we tell that story, there isn’t a single audience member who is going to go, ‘Oh my God, I wonder if they’ll never be allowed to work together again?’ It may come up from time to time, especially from Sweets, that it’s odd to have a couple working together, but it’s not the oddest thing in the world.”

And if you were a little wary that two babies on the show would also shift the focus of things, Nathan shot that fear down.

“I think the most important thing is for us is to keep the show on the same footing its been on for the past seven years,” he said. “Which is this is a murder show and Booth and Brennan are always going to be working together to solve these murders. So we don’t ever intend to take that away. That’s not to say it won’t be incredibly difficult for them, but it won’t be because of any bureaucratic nonsense that will make it difficult, it will just be them working together; the difficulties they have working together as they always have.”

Just how scary is this new serial killer going to be?

Viewers already got a taste of how terrible Chris Pelant can be when we were introduced to him in “The Crack in the Code,” but BONES writer Carla Kettner’s ominous tease that he would “really, really scare the crap out of everybody during the season finale” had me curious just how bad he would be.

“Well, Pelant is going to scare the crap out of people in the season finale,” Hanson reiterated.

“There will be no crap in people anymore after Pelant’s episode,” Nathan joked. “He really is going to turn the series on its head for a little bit. He has much more power than any of our serial bad guys have had in the past.”

Uh oh…

What will the other team members be up to?

There have been plenty of hints about what the other team members will be up to when the show returns, Cam’s storylines have been kept pretty quiet. (The one exception being the upcoming romance for her daughter, Michelle, and a certain squintern.)

“She’s been very, very heavily involved in the lab with our people, kind of as the boss,” Nathan said. “She’s taken that role and it’s been expanded a bit, so you’ll see that in subsequent episodes. We have a lot planned for Cam personally, but…our hands were a little tied this year because of the five fewer episodes, we weren’t able to give some of the other characters that we love — Hodgins and Cam — more extensive arcs. And we will be doing that if we get picked up.”

What other things would they have fit in if there had been time? According to Hanson, “Some more Booth family stuff and [we] still want to do a Hodgins family surprise. But those went away because of the shortened season and because we had these strong B-stories…connected to the baby.”

Get ready for some Brennan and Angela friendship moments…no, really!

Yes, some of the teased Brennan and Angela friendship moments may have gotten cut in the past, but according to the producers, fans can look forward to some quality bonding between the two women in the upcoming batch of episodes.

“[There’s] one where Angela and Brennan leave the lab and play hooky,” Nathan teased. “And Cam is also now involved in that kind of relationship. She’s become a bit closer to Angela and Brennan…But we do see them quite intimately in a few episodes.”

“Angela has her own issues with how she’s changed — being a married woman with a child — that we explore a little bit,” Hanson added. “So she’s better situated to understand what Brennan is going through, feeling that she’s changed. Though Angela is more nostalgic for who she used to be than Brennan is; [Brennan]’s more reflective. In my mind, it’s come up at least three times in the last six episodes, and in fact, at least one really strong storyline. I think in the season-ender, the audience will get a very good feeling for how close Angela and Brennan are. In some ways, Angela knows Brennan better than Booth does. In the way another friend of the same sex can know you more than your partner.”

“And she knows Brennan better than Brennan does,” Nathan finished.

Those bonus episodes are still TBD on the schedule.

Yes, there are four “bonus” episodes of BONES that are being filmed, but sadly, there’s still no word on where they’ll land on the schedule.

“All we know is we have a season-ender and that will leave us with four episodes that have to be slotted anywhere at any time without notice,” Hanson said. “That’s all we know.”

“There’s been no word from Fox when they want to air them in the summer or save them for next season,” Nathan added.

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Are you looking forward to BONES’ return on Monday?

Related:

BONES: ‘The Bump in the Road’ Photo Preview
Why Should You Watch BONES on Monday Nights? Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan, Michaela Conlin, TJ Thyne and John Francis Daley Weigh In
BONES: ‘The Prisoner in the Pipe’ Photo Preview — Including Booth and Brennan’s New Baby!

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