Jordin Althaus/FOX There was always a place for Michael Clarke Duncan.
Bones creator Hart Hanson explained to The Hollywood Reporter that Duncan—the "geniuinely good guy" he cast in the show's spinoff The Finder (which, unfortunately, got canceled after one season)—was supposed to appear in another episode of the crime series.
"The Finder started as an episode of Bones, and we were thinking of having MCD and Geoff [Stults] do one more crossover episode on Bones so that we could tell the Bones fans what happened after The Finder didn't come back," Hanson explained.
"We put all that on hold when he had his heart attack in July, but we were hoping he'd be back...We're just now coming to grips with the idea that MCD is gone. I sure hope we can think of something that would do him proud."
The TV exec explained that Duncan was the total opposite of who he wanted cast ast he part of Leo, a former lawyer who owns a bar in Key West, Fla., in The Finder, but when the studio asked if there was a spot for the Green Mile star, Hanson said yes and started rewriting the character.
"He was a huge presence, and I believe he was destined to be a big TV star," Hanson said.
"A lot of actors are nothing like what you see, but MCD was very much like what you see onscreen: that big smile, that big voice, not a bit of a bully to him. He doesn't alpha-male anybody, though he could alpha-male anyone he wanted. He was just a genuinely good guy."