Why Emily Deschanel Won't Star In A Show Like Bones Ever Again

We are firmly in the age of "newstalgia," a streaming trend that involves unearthing beloved series and films from the past and presenting them to new generations. It's happened with "Friends" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and countless movies that have been exhumed by Netflix and added to the platform's capacious servers. But this trend doesn't have to involve shows that went off the air decades ago. Take "Suits," for instance, which wrapped up its nine-season run on the USA Network in 2019 before finding renewed success on Netflix just four years later when streaming subscribers went positively "Suits" mad. The same, it seems, could soon be said for "Bones."

Fox's procedural ran for an impressive 12 seasons from 2005 to 2017, and remains popular in the streaming age. The Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz-led series is currently available on Hulu and appears to still be drawing fans, judging by all the talk of a "Bones" revival. Frankly, such a thing seems more likely than ever right now, with every major cast member seemingly eager to return. That includes Deschanel, who, as recently as the last few months, has spoken openly about being willing to return to the role of Temperance "Bones" Brennan. The actor, who now co-hosts the rewatch podcast "Boneheads" has apparently changed her tune somewhat, as if you were to ask her back in 2019, she was pretty much against the idea of ever doing anything like "Bones" ever again.

Both Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz have confirmed they'd be willing to return for a "Bones" revival, though Disney's acquisition of Fox back in 2019 might make such a thing a tad complicated. Still, there's clearly a desire among fans to see the gang reunited, which is why it must have been a tad disheartening to hear that Deschanel wasn't really up for retreading the same territory after "Bones" went off the air.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019, the actor said that she wasn't all that enthralled by the prospect of revisiting a "Bones"-style working life. At the time, Deschanel was set to make her return to television in TNT's "Animal Kingdom," in which she had a recurring role during the show's fourth season. In "Bones" however, she had been a series lead, and it seems the actor wasn't eager to take any starring roles at that point in her career. After stating that she "loved playing that character [of Temperance Brennan] for 12 years," Deschanel went on to say that she didn't "want to do the same thing twice," adding:

"At this point, I have no interest in doing 22 episodes of a television show. I want to play different characters, I'm open to anything — I'm not going to say that I'm not doing television because I'm currently filming television, but I'm not a series regular. That was a plus to me going in. I have flexibility. When you're a guest-star you can come and go, and there's no contract, which is great going into my first job after doing 'Bones.' And I don't want to take too much time away from my kids."

While you might say Deschanel wasn't ruling out a "Bones" revival here, and was instead simply saying she didn't want to appear in a show like "Bones," it's clear that the actor wasn't excited by the idea of being a series lead in general — which is exactly what she would be in a revival of her Fox procedural.

Emily Deschanel's willingness to return to "Bones" has definitely seemed to increase in recent years. After David Boreanaz expressed an interest in reprising his role as FBI Agent Seeley Booth, his co-star said in a 2024 interview that she was "surprised" to hear about his comments. She then claimed to be "open" to the idea but remained noncommittal, adding, "I don't know if that makes sense, but I never say never." Then, less than a year later, Deschanel suddenly seemed more enthused about the whole thing, telling Comic Book Resources, "It is the 20th anniversary this year" and that she'd "be down for it."

Clearly, then, Deschanel has softened on the idea of being a series lead in the years since her 2019 THR interview. Even back then, she made clear that she wasn't "anti-television by any means" and noted that "it really is the golden age of television right now," adding, "I would never write off doing television." After "Animal Kingdom," the actor appeared in Netflix's eight-episode series "Devil in Ohio" back in 2022, which wasn't all that well-received by critics. Whether that played into her increasing willingness to come back to "Bones" remains unclear, but perhaps the actor has always harbored a desire to play Temperance Brennan again, even when her interviews didn't quite convey that.

Both Deschanel and Boreanaz have both spoken positively about working together, and everything the pair has said since the show went off the air seems to indicate that they remain fond of their time on the show. As such, Deschanel's 2019 claim about wanting to "play different characters" and refraining from "series regular" roles perhaps shouldn't be taken too seriously in 2025, at least as it applies to "Bones."