Bones’ Creator Regularly Resisted Putting The Main Characters In Danger

“Bones” isn’t just a show with more than 200 episodes spread out over 12 seasons and a devoted fanbase. The secret sauce is that it followed a comfortable formula, for the most part, with the show’s leads Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) largely tackling a murder of the week plot. All the while, throughlines for the series would further along the way. It’s the kind of show that has started to disappear in the age of streaming, which might help to explain its enduring appeal. But even series with a formula have to break that formula now and again.

In “Bones: The Official Companion,” it’s explained that series creator Hart Hanson largely resisted putting the main characters in any major jeopardy episode to episode. The season 2 episode “The Killer in the Concrete” was cited as an example of turning the usual formula on its head a bit. Here’s what Hanson had to say about it:

“I told Emily Deschanel at the beginning, ‘Once a year, you will be in danger and Booth will rescue you.’ I always resist those stories, and it’s turned out to be quite good. Then, in this episode, there’s the flipside when she comes to rescue him, which is only fair.”

The flipping of the script, in this example, worked well in part because it still aligned with Brennan’s willingness to get her hands dirty in the field during the course of “Bones.” Booth may be the FBI agent but, from time to time, he needed a little help himself.

The episode in question sees Brennan and Booth discover a partial skeleton found encased in cement. They initially suspect the victim was killed by a member of a dangerous organized crime family. When Booth goes after him, the plan goes south and Booth ends up kidnapped. Brennan then has to try to find Booth before he suffers the same fate as the original victim.

From the very beginning, it was clear that “Bones” was going to be about Brennan and Booth — not just Brennan. So putting either of them in too much danger ran the risk of taking apart one of the show’s main pillars. It’s like tearing down the load-bearing wall in a house; the whole thing might collapse. That presented another problem though, as Hanson and the rest of the writers needed to make the show still feel like it had compelling enough stakes. Fortunately, that didn’t prove to be an issue, given the series’ incredibly healthy run on Fox.

Other characters were put in grave danger along the way, with someone like Vincent even dying so that the leads could live to fight another day. In fairness, plenty of other popular forms of media have to make things feel interesting without putting the lead characters in too much danger. I personally think of mainstream superhero comics. Reading “The Amazing Spider-Man,” one can be pretty confident that Peter Parker is going to live to fight another day. It’s on the storytellers to ensure that this doesn’t get boring or feel predictable.