I participated in a conference call recently with ‘Bones‘ creators and executive producers Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan. It was a very fun and informative interview. You definitely could feel that they are still having fun doing the show. That’s pretty impressive going into their ninth season.
Here is some of what we learned about the upcoming season – and believe me, it’s sounds fun and action packed.
When will the situation with Pelant be resolved?
SN: It will be resolved, it will definitely be resolved.
HH: You notice how I clam up on these questions and Stephen just sallies forth. [I love the choice of words Hart uses.]
SN: I wish I could give you more information, but I think it’s safe to say that whenever they think they know what Pelant is doing, they’re thrown a curveball. As simple as it would be to just go in and kill him, it might not be that easy.
HH: I’d like to point out that you got a sports metaphor out of Stephen Nathan. That’s really, really rare. You said “curveball.” That’s a baseball term. [Good one, Hart!]
Can you talk about how Pelant will come to the forefront again?
SN: Pelant will definitely figure in their lives quite heavily in the first few episodes. We will see him again. We will see him in a way we haven’t before. It will be a far more intense episode – it will be them confronting him in a way we haven’t seen before.
HH: They’re going to get married, and they can’t really get married until the issue of Pelant has been dealt with one way or another. We’re doing that fairly quickly; we’re not teasing this out through the whole season.
SN: We’ve strung along the audience for eight years; season nine, we’re starting to resolve things. Not everything, because there will be a season 10 through 14. [Alright! – Oh, he’s joking.] But at this point, we will be moving things along.
Because of the presence of Pelant, will characters be fearing what they can’t see?
SN: Yes, he’s going to be a presence until that storyline is resolved in some way. We’re close to resolving it, but not in the way that everybody expects.
HH: As one of our characters says, “You don’t even know for sure if Pelant is watching, but just the sheer possibility makes you have to be paranoid.”
Can you give us a hint as to whether Pelant is killed or arrested?
HH: I blurted something out at Comic Con. Here’s what the question was that was sprung on me: “Do you know how Pelant dies?” And I said, “Oh, yeah.” So there you go. It’s a matter of public record, but I could’ve been wrong, though.
SN: If I could just interject. We do know how he dies, but we also know when he dies. That throws a little bit of a monkey wrench in what Hart said. I wish it was as simple as “He dies and everything’s great.”
Has your experience with Pelant changed your approach to villains or future big bads?
HH: Yeah, Stephen and I don’t really like serial killers, but we know America does, so we always have these big bads, these serial killers, come along. Pelant gave us a great amount of joy to play with. We got something right, at least as far as we’re concerned, with Pelant, so we kept him around a long time. We think we’ve got that, and now we have to find out if our audience agrees.
What will happen to the broken relationship between Angela and Booth?
HH: They both love Brennan. Don’t step between sisters, which Booth has done. That’s going to take a while to play out, because hurtful things were said and they don’t immediately fix themselves overnight.
SN: Best friends are relentless and they will defend a friend to the death. Booth has to get past that; Angela does, too. She has to understand what’s going on, but she doesn’t have the information yet.
HH: Angela is the ultimate shipper. You know what, if the shippers are mad at me, then so is Angela.
How does Sweets figure out his course, and will that echo with how Booth decides his future?
HH: What a good show runner would do is have Sweets face a situation, or situations, which somehow told him – which were signs to him – about which way he should go or give him the most satisfaction. With Booth, it’ the same thing. He has to face dangers to make him rethink what are his responsibilities to Christine.
Now some exciting stuff for ‘Bones’ fans! Booth and Brennan’s Wedding!
What can you tell us about Booth and Brennan’s wedding?
SN: There will be vows. [Very funny, guys.]
HH: We put a lot of effort into giving the audience what they want, which is a wedding in a way they don’t expect it. I hope we’ve been successful in that.
Any wedding guest going to be part of the plot?
SN: Certainly, some people are involved in the case, but we’re not inviting the murderer to the wedding.
HH: In fact, there are a group of people who are at the wedding because of the case, but that’s about all I would say about it.
Is there going to be a honeymoon and will it involve a case?
HH: Yes, there’s a honeymoon, and, of course, there’s a murder. Can we say more about it, Stephen?
SN: Somebody did tease something about it, so it’s out there. They go to Buenos Aires on their honeymoon.
HH: Buenos Aires has a certain history that demands someone like Brennan.
SN: They do go on their honeymoon, and it turns out that the entire country of Argentina is madly in love with Brennan’s books – and it takes a turn that Brennan didn’t even see coming.
How long do we have to wait to learn the significance of the numbers 447 and 735?
HH: 447. We talk a lot about paying that off. There’s two schools of thought and I won’t tell you who’s winning: one is that we finally pay it off in the final episode; the other is that we don’t wait that long. That being said, there’s a few things we are paying off quickly at the beginning of this season. For example, what did Brennan write when she was buried alive with Hodgins. Who did she write to and what did she write? “What is Angela’s real name?” is another hanging chad that we haven’t paid off yet. There’s another one in my mind, but it just seems to be gone. There’s always “What is on page 187?,” which is Hodgins’ miraculous sexual technique, but I don’t know if we could pay that off on network TV.
These were some of the questions asked in the Q&A. One thing we know is that season nine might be the best one yet. It is obvious that Hart and Stephen still love what they do and it shows — nine seasons and counting. “Bones” fans, get ready for a fun ride!
Do you watch “Bones”? Besides the wedding, what are you looking forward to in season 9?
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