ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Do you have any idea what the future holds for Booth and Brennan?
STEPHEN NATHAN: We know the show is going to continue, but what restarts it is still being determined. We have a lot of different choices and different ways to approach it, and this is always a difficult time of trying to find the best way to bring the show back. It was a difficult finale, because it had to be a season and a series finale, so we have to come back from that. But we know who these people are and what they love to do.
Booth and Brennan’s love for this job has always been such a huge part of their identity. Can you talk about the choice to put their personal lives over the professional here?
It’s always good to see individuals and couples that you’ve grown to love meet truly insurmountable challenges. I think the show started out with such a clear delineation of passions, and they were all directed toward the procedural element of this show—not all, but to a large extent, they were directed toward just crimes. And as we’ve gotten to know these people over many years, that, by necessity, became personal, and the characters take precedence. So I think the two of them getting to a point after ten years of, “Come on, let’s not go turn a body over every week; let’s see what our lives hold outside of what we’re accustomed to,” I think is a very interesting thing. And they’re going to come back into this environment with this new experience, with what they’ve learned from getting outside and seeing things with some perspective.
It reminds me in a lot of ways of the season 5 finale.
That’s right.
STEPHEN NATHAN: We know the show is going to continue, but what restarts it is still being determined. We have a lot of different choices and different ways to approach it, and this is always a difficult time of trying to find the best way to bring the show back. It was a difficult finale, because it had to be a season and a series finale, so we have to come back from that. But we know who these people are and what they love to do.
Booth and Brennan’s love for this job has always been such a huge part of their identity. Can you talk about the choice to put their personal lives over the professional here?
It’s always good to see individuals and couples that you’ve grown to love meet truly insurmountable challenges. I think the show started out with such a clear delineation of passions, and they were all directed toward the procedural element of this show—not all, but to a large extent, they were directed toward just crimes. And as we’ve gotten to know these people over many years, that, by necessity, became personal, and the characters take precedence. So I think the two of them getting to a point after ten years of, “Come on, let’s not go turn a body over every week; let’s see what our lives hold outside of what we’re accustomed to,” I think is a very interesting thing. And they’re going to come back into this environment with this new experience, with what they’ve learned from getting outside and seeing things with some perspective.
It reminds me in a lot of ways of the season 5 finale.
That’s right.
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TVLINE | When next season opens, will we see who has replaced Brennan?
Yes.
TVLINE | Could it be someone we already know? Or are you planning to bring in a new character?
Everything is still up in the air. I can’t really say anything definitively about [Season] 11.
TVLINE | With Brennan and Booth leaving, but Angela and Hodgins deciding to stay, was it an either-or situation?
We couldn’t blow apart the whole place. And also, there was something always indefinite about Hodgins’ feelings about moving to Paris. Because he loves her, he [would do] it, of course. But she saw that. It just allowed us to see their relationship in a very crucial situation, see how two people in a life-changing situation really respond and what that means for their relationship. … We can’t do scenes in Paris, and Hodgins and Angela work in the lab. To bring them back, it would have been a rerun of the other episode we did where everybody was called back to help Cam. We just wanted this to be different and based on their relationship rather than some kind of goofy plot twist.
Yes.
TVLINE | Could it be someone we already know? Or are you planning to bring in a new character?
Everything is still up in the air. I can’t really say anything definitively about [Season] 11.
TVLINE | With Brennan and Booth leaving, but Angela and Hodgins deciding to stay, was it an either-or situation?
We couldn’t blow apart the whole place. And also, there was something always indefinite about Hodgins’ feelings about moving to Paris. Because he loves her, he [would do] it, of course. But she saw that. It just allowed us to see their relationship in a very crucial situation, see how two people in a life-changing situation really respond and what that means for their relationship. … We can’t do scenes in Paris, and Hodgins and Angela work in the lab. To bring them back, it would have been a rerun of the other episode we did where everybody was called back to help Cam. We just wanted this to be different and based on their relationship rather than some kind of goofy plot twist.
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Does that mean Brennan has completed her arc in a way?
At least for me, there was no way for any ultimate resolution in the finale. The series needs to have a life of its own. It goes on and on and on and all we can do is end this chapter.
Christopher Pelant (Andrew Leeds) also makes a return in the finale with that video message. What’s the significance of him not really being gone even though he’s dead?
The thematic through line of the series has always been that life is about change. Nothing is static. Nothing is solid. We wanted that articulated in some way. When Pelant is there you would think [Brennan] would say, “Oh I want to hear this. What’s going on?”and this is going to pull them back into the Jeffersonian. [Instead], she said, “No, there’s always going to be something that can pull me back. There’s a time to just move on. There’s no such thing as closure.” There’s no such thing as the perfect time or the ultimate resolution to a person’s life. It always ends inconclusively.
Why did you decide Booth and Brennan should leave D.C.?
We had to do an episode that would be worthy of our audience that had committed to us for so many years. We wanted to give them a satisfying conclusion if in fact the show didn’t come back. We also somehow had to have that vibe in the show that it could continue for another 10 years. It was really walking a tight rope. Hopefully, we did it [because] I don’t think there’s a net.
Will they be back at the Jeffersonian in Season 11 or part of the show in a different capacity?
Bones is still going to go on as Bones. From a practical standpoint, we can’t build another permanent set. We were told it was the biggest permanent set every built for a television show—so they are going to be back on that set. The mystery and the fun of Season 11 is how is this team going to reassemble. How is life going to go on? At what point do we pick them up?
At least for me, there was no way for any ultimate resolution in the finale. The series needs to have a life of its own. It goes on and on and on and all we can do is end this chapter.
Christopher Pelant (Andrew Leeds) also makes a return in the finale with that video message. What’s the significance of him not really being gone even though he’s dead?
The thematic through line of the series has always been that life is about change. Nothing is static. Nothing is solid. We wanted that articulated in some way. When Pelant is there you would think [Brennan] would say, “Oh I want to hear this. What’s going on?”and this is going to pull them back into the Jeffersonian. [Instead], she said, “No, there’s always going to be something that can pull me back. There’s a time to just move on. There’s no such thing as closure.” There’s no such thing as the perfect time or the ultimate resolution to a person’s life. It always ends inconclusively.
Why did you decide Booth and Brennan should leave D.C.?
We had to do an episode that would be worthy of our audience that had committed to us for so many years. We wanted to give them a satisfying conclusion if in fact the show didn’t come back. We also somehow had to have that vibe in the show that it could continue for another 10 years. It was really walking a tight rope. Hopefully, we did it [because] I don’t think there’s a net.
Will they be back at the Jeffersonian in Season 11 or part of the show in a different capacity?
Bones is still going to go on as Bones. From a practical standpoint, we can’t build another permanent set. We were told it was the biggest permanent set every built for a television show—so they are going to be back on that set. The mystery and the fun of Season 11 is how is this team going to reassemble. How is life going to go on? At what point do we pick them up?
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