FoxIt's been a long hiatus, Bones fans, but we've gotten through it together. The show returns to Fox tonight for the last few episodes of season 11, and E! News hopped on the phone with star Emily Deschanel to talk all things Booth and Brennan—plus get scoop on what's ahead for the Jeffersonian gang. Read on to find out which couple we should worry about, the new serial killer (yes, another) terrorizing the crew and the upcoming moment that got Deschanel nostalgic as the show heads into its final season.
E! News: Let's talk about these next couple of episodes back. What should we look forward to?
Emily Deschanel: Our first [episode is] looking at the death of a public defender and there's so many different possibilities of who could be a suspect in that case. And then we have a more lighthearted episode about men's rights groups, which is just very comical to me. [Laughs] Because no one's been more wrong in history than white heterosexual men.
I watched it. Brennan is horrified!
It's real! Those people exist. We have to investigate that world and so obviously everyone's talking about feminism and what it means to be a feminist and what means to be a meninist. [Laughs] It also hits a nerve with Brennan and their investigating.
We also start to see a possibility of a serial killer. Sara Rue is in the episode, she's in a few episodes, actually, but I didn't get to work with her! Which I am so bummed about, because I'm such a fan of hers. I met her and she was lovely and then I never even saw her!
Hodgins and Angela have been one of the most stable couples on the show, so how will Hodgins' paralysis affect their relationship?
We've seen that Hodgins has had to deal with some anger management issues early on in this series. He's challenged in this time and he is clearly struggling with that. His old anger issues come back tenfold. It's pretty shocking to see these characters that we've felt were very solid and good—their relationship was very solid and good—to be really challenged and to see Hodgins in such a bad place. It's hard for me to even act in scenes because some of the things are so harsh that he says.
But it's interesting to explore what somebody goes through. Nothing's changed about him except something physically but that changes everything in a lot of ways. That can be really huge for somebody to adjust to, and hopefully gets to a really good place.
It's pretty natural that he will struggle adjusting to his new normal.
Nothing's changed for him inside, but the world is not built for people who are in wheelchairs and that is an unfortunate fact. I really like that we're exploring the difficulties of being disabled and being in a wheelchair and what that means and also what that means emotionally for a character.
What about Booth and Brennan?
Our relationship, that's not the struggle here. [Hodgins and Angela are] going through stuff and we're concerned about him and them and obviously solving our cases and a serial killer! Booth and Brennan feel pretty strong. I can't say what happens at the end of the season or next season, but right now they're strong.
What else do we have to look forward to in this latter half of season 11?
Brennan starts organizing the house and she takes everything out and is trying to throw stuff away—Booth's "cocky" belt buckle that he used to wear, his beer helmet. That's just been a fun episode in general, fun moments to revisit some old props. I tried to get rid of his fancy socks and things like that.
That sounds like a nice, nostalgic moment!
I think you'll see more and more of those, especially in the 12th season, just doing classic Bones things.
Bones airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.