‘Bones’ Creator on Potential Revival: ‘Every Once in a While, We Are All Nostalgic Enough to Think Maybe We Should Do It Again’

Elizabeth Wagmeister
Updated ·2 min read
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“Bones” ran for 12 seasons and over 240 episodes on Fox, an accomplishment in procedural broadcast television that now seems to be an apex in retrospect. But with a streaming era that has made reboots and revivals more popular than ever, could “Bones” ever come back?

According to the show’s creator, there is hope.

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“We are in contact with each other,” Hart Hanson, who created “Bones,” tells Variety. “Everybody on ‘Bones’ is in contact with each other. At separate times, it’s like, ‘What are you doing? What’s the availability?’”

Speaking to Variety at the “Bones” reunion WGA picket, Hanson spoke about the realities of reviving the show, noting the very different media landscape today compared to when “Bones” aired on Fox from 2005 to 2017.

“It’s complicated now because Fox broadcast ‘Bones,’ but Disney now bought 20th, so they own [the show]. It would take a million agents and lawyers to figure out who owns what and what platform it would show on,” Hanson said. “But we do keep talking. And every once in a while, we are all nostalgic enough to think, ‘Maybe we should do it again.’ Who knows? Maybe this will bump-start us.”

Executive producer Stephen Nathan stepped into the conversation, chiming in, “It is odd that everybody is still in contact. It was a great group of people.”

“It was a happy place to work,” Hanson added. Hanson and Nathan were among the crowd of former writers and producers from “Bones” at the WGA picket outside the Fox lot in Los Angeles. They were joined by the show’s star, Emily Deschanel, who also picketed to show support for the writers on strike.

“I could see it. I could see it,” Hanson said of a possible revival. “Of course, it all depends on David and Emily. Without both of them, no.”

“Bones” starred David Boreanaz as FBI Agent Booth and Deschanel as Temperance “Bones” Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. The show remains Fox’s longest-running scripted drama series of all time.

When asked if they’ve spoken with Boreanaz or Deschanel about the possibility of a revival, Hanson said that they would be open to the conversation.

“We have heard that they would not not be game, which is a step,” Hanson said. “The actors are going to say the truth, which is it depends on what it is, the scripts, what it looks like, if it feels right. They’re not going to do something just because it’s us.”

With a laugh, Nathan quipped, “But we don’t have to do it for 12 years again, do we?”

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