Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz reunited with their former costars for the “Bones: 20th Anniversary Retrospective with Creator and Cast” this weekend—and Woman’s World couldn’t pass up the chance to hear them reminisce about the hijinks they got into with Michaela Conlin, Tamara Taylor, T.J. Thyne, Eric Millegan, and creator Hart Hanson back when Dr. Temperance Brennan, FBI Agent Seeley Booth and team were still solving crimes on Fox.
Here, we have the scoop on why this beloved show could have ended up being a LOT different and which cast members made up the giggle squad, not to mention Betty White’s saucy Bones antics.
Plus, we got to talk one-on-one with Boreanaz after the laugh-filled panel ended, and Hanson reveals what it would take to land a Bones reboot!
‘Bones’ alum David Boreanaz on Booth and Brennan
Almost a decade after the 2017 series finale, fans flocked to celebrate the Bones 20th anniversary at the Television Academy’s inaugural Televerse Festival at L.A. Live this Saturday—and the reunion had everyone feeling nostalgic.
“It’s just fantastic to see everybody and feel that energy and also remember the many different stories of what we went through for 12 seasons,” Boreanaz tells Woman’s World. “It’s a testimony to the writing and everything. I’ve always said Bones is a family unit. The crew was fantastic, and it had longevity because of the love and the harmony and the balance. It was a joy to work on.”
While the show was an ensemble with several juicy characters, he maintains Brennan and Emily Deschanel were the heart of his experience.
“That relationship and that growth was very important for me to always go back to—regardless of what was going on and the humor and the love and the bond that all of us had,” he says. “Mind you, I didn’t really work that much with the lab people—the squints—until towards the end. But for me, it was always going back to Emily and Brennan. We jumped the shark. We had the kiss, we had the marriage, we were successful in that.”
“We built that relationship,” he adds. “We worked with [acting coach] Ivana Chubbuck on weekends, I think eight of 12 years, and we came in with ideas and changes. I’m proud of that. I think they tune into the relationships.”
Why Brennan and Booth could have been a very different pair
While their chemistry held the show together, creator Hart Hanson initially had something very different planned for Brennan and Booth. Loosely based on the life and novels of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, Brennan was going to have a host of sidekicks from different agencies pass through each week—and when Boreanaz signed on to play Booth, he’d only agreed to recur.
“I wanted to do other stuff,” he explains. “But that ended quickly. When Emily came on board, it was magical. During [her screen test], she stood up and challenged Booth, which I found to be very cool in the moment. It sparked a great energy between us.”
Deschanel, meanwhile, almost skipped that game-changing audition altogether!
While Boreanaz’s agent was pushing him to join JJ Abrams’ Pros & Cons instead of Bones, the up-and-coming indie actress had her eye on a one-scene role in yet another series.
“Bones was like The Little Show that Could, eventually, but no one knew that yet,” Deschanel recalls. “So I ended up going to another test—and then they canceled the test! If they hadn’t canceled that test, it might not have ever happened.”
Emily Deschanel on landing ‘Bones’—’I remember jumping around my apartment’
After all these years, Deschanel recently learned that Bones also had someone else in mind to play Brennan before her audition blew away Boreanaz, Hart and the rest of the team.
“I thought I was just testing against one other person who was there,” she says. “It felt good to me, but I never felt like I’d nailed it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way in my life! But I remember jumping around my apartment when I got the part.
“I [also] remember having a conversation with Hart, and I said, ‘Well, how long can a show about bones last? I mean, how many stories can you tell about bones?’”
That answer turned out to be 246! And with Bones’ twelve seasons still airing in syndication and streaming, new generations of fans continue to flock to the series.
“People have told me, ‘Bones got me through a really hard time,’” Deschanel says. “We get the bad guys. We’re solving a puzzle, and the characters are comforting, so I think that’s helped some people… but that can’t explain the entirety of everybody who’s watching.
“I love how a murder show helps people going through a very emotional time!” she adds.
David Boreanaz on the show’s quirky energy—’We had to fight for all those moments’
Over the years, Bones told some very dark stories and pushed the boundaries, but there was always plenty of oddball antics, cookie moments, and even romance.
“We didn’t shy away from difficult conversations, but we had humor,” Deschanel says—and that’s apparently NOT what Fox was looking for, at first!
“Early on, they wanted us to be the X Files or CSI,” Boreanaz explains. “That first year and a half, we had to fight for all those moments, literally, because they’d get mad at me for doing it, again. I would interrogate somebody, and I’d get a bouncy ball and start bouncing three of them, all over the place. Hart came up to me and said, ‘David, you do not understand. The network thinks you’re [expletive] insane.’”
By the third season, however, Fox finally understood what it had in its band of quirky crime solvers.
“All that the characters brought to the table, they [started] marketing it, because it was all about the fans that loved it,” Boreanaz says. “That’s the voice the fans and them tuning in!”
Emily Deschanel talks fart machine and the ‘Bones’ giggle squad
While this cast took the drama and onscreen relationships seriously, their love of pranks was infamous. They even escalated from whoopee cushions to a remote-control fart machine that had five different sounds.
“It would just make David and me laugh,” admits Deschanel, who doubles over thinking about it. “Sometimes people wouldn’t even be paying attention or notice at all, but we would be laughing. You gotta get through the day!
“We all laughed, but Tamara and T.J. were the giggle squad,” she adds of Cam and Hodgins portrayers, who often had Friday night lab shoots. “And let’s be fair, you get loopy when you’re working really late and it’s become Saturday morning.”
David Boreanaz recalls when Betty White propositioned him—and not in a ladylike way!
There were lots of fun memories about having guest stars like ZZ Tops’ Billy Gibbons, Motley Crüe and Luc Robitaille pop into the show, but it’s Betty White’s pranks when she played Dr. Beth Mayer that had the Bones panel in stitches.
During a scene with Thyne, White pretended he’d caught her finger in the director’s slate after he called “Action.”
“The entire crew turned on me,” he cries. “I looked at her, and she just winked at me!”
While Deschanel reveals that was one of White’s standard gags, it was nothing compared to how the comedian introduced herself to Boreanaz.
“She says hello to everybody,” he recounts. “And Emily and I are waiting for her. And she’s like, ‘Good to see you. Oh, good to see you. You’re so nice. You’re so pretty.’ She goes up to Emily, ‘Oh, you’re so pretty.’
“She looks at me, she goes, ‘Holy [expletive], I want to [expletive] you. I want to [expletive] you!’ I just started laughing.”
What would it take to reboot ‘Bones’ 20 years later?
It was clear from the energy at the Bones 20th anniversary at Televerse 25 that Brennan, Booth and team could be lured back together onscreen. Boreanaz even has some ideas for fresh Bones episodes.
“Of all the shows, I think Bones is one you can just kind of drop into and have fun with all of us,” says the SEAL Team, Angel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum. “What would be really fantastic about it is to see all of us in today’s environment—the political environment, social environment, the mental health environment—and see all of our perspectives and how funny that would be.”
Thanks to the volatility of Hollywood, however, a Bones reboot faces one major challenge.
“Everything has fallen apart and remerged five times since Bones was on the air,” explains Hanson. “Who owns it? Who would put it on their platform or network? In the end, everyone [who had a piece of it] is going to want a chunk of the money. So doing that could be massively expensive or just not get all the permission. It’s complicated. What we need is someone—probably at Disney, who owns most of everything—to go, ‘We have to have it.’”
