Why The Bones Season 10 Finale Was Written Like A Series Finale

“Bones” may have been off the air for several years, but that doesn’t mean its fans are any less loyal. In no small part thanks to constant reruns on cable and viewers discovering the show on streaming, it remains wildly popular. The series largely focuses on Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), who work together to solve murders. “Bones” aired on Fox and was mostly filmed in Los Angeles, even though it technically takes place in Washington D.C.

Ultimately, “Bones” ran for a whopping 12 seasons, concluding its run in 2017. So, when the “Bones” season 10 finale aired, viewers still had two full seasons worth of adventures left with Brennan and Booth. However, at the time, the creators of the show had to treat the season 10 finale as though it might be the series finale. Executive producer Stephen Nathan spoke to TV Guide in 2015 and broke down what happened. For starters, the “Bones” season 10 finale fans witnessed was not the episode the show’s creatives originally planned to make. So, why did they have to change course? As Nathan explained:

“We had actually planned a completely different end to the season, that of a far more traditional cliff-hanger and a situation that would get us into season 11. But the pickup, which we always expected, didn’t come for numerous reasons that were out of our control.”

For what it’s worth, “Bones” was a show that was often on the bubble and could have ended several times during its run, so this was not exactly unfamiliar territory for its creators. That said, when the renewal came in from the network, it was too late to change course once again. As such, the season 10 finale had to move forward as it’d been written. Nathan added that the series’ creatives weren’t going to run the risk of disappointing fans further, explaining:

“We were then told, ‘This could be a series-ender,’ we realized we can’t disappoint or dismiss the audience and the fans who have been so important to us for a decade […] and compromise on an episode that very possibly could be the last episode ever. So, we had to actually write a series finale that hopefully contained a vibe of a continuum. But the reality is this was the ending at this point in time.”

The season 10 finale, titled “The Next in the Last,” first aired in June 2015. In the episode, the Jeffersonian team discovers the remains of a victim at a crime scene pointing to a possible protege of serial killer Christopher Pelant aka The Hactivist, a villain who terrified Deschanel. This then forces them to revisit their prior work on Pelant while investigating new clues that will hopefully lead them to the copycat killer. Meanwhile, Brennan and Booth contemplate options outside of the Jeffersonian and FBI, which is the thread that is pulled on to make this episode feel like a finale.

The show’s 10th season was, in fact, a landmark one for other reasons too. For one, “Bones” season 10 featured the death of John Francis Daley’s Sweets. This was also the point where “Bones” had been air for a full decade. It’s tough to keep up a certain level of quality for that long. To that end, Nathan elaborated on why this episode might have served as a fitting end to the show, even though that wasn’t the way things shook out:

“We all talk about endings and you get a certain kind of finality, but in life, there’s only one ending that’s final, and that’s death. Apart from that, it’s just change. What Brennan has always said is, ‘There is no such thing as closure.’ Everybody wants to wrap something up in a nice neat ribbon and say, ‘OK, that’s done. This will now begin.’ Life doesn’t work that way, and Booth and Brennan have pretty much proven that’s the case.”

“Bones” is streaming now on Hulu, or you can buy the complete series on DVD from Amazon. Solana Token Creator