109 Fun Facts About Bones TV Show

What nickname does Booth use for Brennan's team of lab scientists?

Squints is Booth's label for the academics he turns to when a case is stuck, and it spread: the lab's rotating interns became known as 'squinterns'.

Who created Bones for Fox?

Hart Hanson told Fox he had no interest in doing a forensics show, then met producer Barry Josephson, found they agreed on how it might unfold and signed on to write the pilot.

How does the Bones finale leave the lab?

In ruins: 'The End in the End', directed by David Boreanaz, closes with the team clearing out their things until the wrecked lab can be rebuilt.

How is Zooey Deschanel, who guest-stars as Brennan's cousin Margaret, related to Emily Deschanel in real life?

Her sister: Zooey, the younger Deschanel, plays Margaret Whitesell, a second cousin on Brennan's mother's side who irritates her by quoting Benjamin Franklin all through Christmas.

Alongside her lab work, Temperance Brennan has which lucrative second career?

Mystery novelist: in a wink at reality, Brennan's books follow a fictional anthropologist called Kathy Reichs, the real author whose heroine is Temperance Brennan.

David Boreanaz, who plays Booth, was previously famous for playing which vampire?

Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul as punishment for a murder, so his own spin-off follows him as a private detective seeking redemption for his past.

What was Temperance Brennan's birth name?

She was born Joy Keenan; her parents Max and Ruth Keenan, former bank robbers, renamed the whole family Brennan when they went into hiding.

What is Brennan's catchphrase whenever someone makes a pop-culture reference?

'I don't know what that means' is Brennan's reply to most pop culture, so it's a shock when she explains Jersey Shore, having taken the reality show for a factual study.

Before joining the FBI, Booth was a sniper in which US Army unit?

The 75th Rangers were Booth's regiment as an Army sniper, and the Army wants him back: in the season-five finale he returns to uniform to train soldiers in Afghanistan.

Seeley Booth hates admitting he is related to the assassin of which US president?

Abraham Lincoln was shot by the actor John Wilkes Booth, and season five reveals that Seeley belongs to the same family, a fact the FBI agent refuses to discuss.

Where does Brennan end up giving birth to her daughter Christine?

In a stable: labour starts during a prison riot with the hospital half an hour away, and an innkeeper who first turns the couple away lets them use his outbuilding.

Where do Booth and Brennan marry after their church burns?

A garden outside the Jeffersonian hosts the wedding in 'The Woman in White': Angela arranges a last-minute ceremony on the spot where the pair first agreed to work together.

What is the name of the forensic artist's 3D holographic crime-simulation program?

The Angelator was the creator's answer to the flashbacks other crime shows lean on: the team feeds in evidence until its hologram shows how the crime happened.

On Bones, which rock guitarist plays Angela's father as a fictionalised version of himself?

Billy Gibbons plays Angela's fiercely protective father: after she and Hodgins split up, he drugs Hodgins and has Angela's face tattooed on his arm.

What is Jack Hodgins's primary scientific specialty at the Jeffersonian?

Entomology, the study of insects, is Hodgins's speciality alongside botany and minerals, which is why Booth saddles him with the nickname 'Bug Boy'.

What title do Hodgins and Zack compete for with each forensic breakthrough?

King of the Lab is the title Hodgins and Zack fight over, and the joke pays off in the series finale, when Cam goes on leave and puts Hodgins in charge for real.

Which serial killer was Zack Addy revealed to be the apprentice of, at the end of season three?

Zack was unmasked as the apprentice of Gormogon, the cannibalistic secret-society killer, in the season-three finale; he pleaded insanity and later told Sweets he never actually killed anyone.

On Bones, what childhood nickname does Booth's grandfather still use for him?

Shrimp is what 'Pops' calls Booth; in season five he moves in after a run-in with the staff at his retirement home, then sets fire to Booth's kitchen.

The Gravedigger, who buried victims alive for ransom, turned out to be which Bones character?

US Attorney Heather Taffet was convicted in season five's 'The Boy with the Answer'; sniper Jacob Broadsky later shot her dead as she was being escorted to court for her appeal.

Which hacktivist villain, under house arrest for crashing a Pentagon network, tormented the Bones team?

Christopher Pelant, the hacker villain of seasons seven to nine, framed Brennan for murder and hijacked a military drone before Booth finally shot him dead.

What does Hodgins give up in season eight to stop a hijacked drone hitting a school?

His family fortune: the hacker drains Hodgins's accounts through the same system that steers the drone, so saving the Afghan schoolgirls means letting the money go.

Which actor, later a screenwriter and director, plays FBI psychologist Lance Sweets?

John Francis Daley left to co-direct the 2015 film Vacation, and rather than write Sweets a long absence the producers killed him off in the season-10 premiere.

How does Sweets die in the season 10 premiere of Bones?

Assaulted while serving a warrant, Sweets dies in a parking garage with Booth and Brennan beside him; Daisy Wick, pregnant at the time, later names their son Seeley Lance.

Which junior FBI agent, famous for his love of food, joins Booth after Sweets's death?

James Aubrey joins Booth in season 10 with a bottomless appetite and a grudge: his father fled the country over a Ponzi scheme, and Aubrey later turns him in.

Camille Saroyan, who takes over the forensic division in season two, was previously what?

A coroner in New York City, Cam arrives in season two to run the lab's forensic division, briefly rekindles an old romance with Booth and later marries intern Arastoo Vaziri.

Which intern is fatally shot by sniper Jacob Broadsky in season six?

Vincent Nigel-Murray, the English trivia-spouting intern, is shot by Broadsky in 'The Hole in the Heart'; his death is the catalyst for Booth and Brennan finally getting together.

Which intern is diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma by Brennan?

Wendell Bray's first instinct is to refuse treatment and spend the time he has left travelling, until Booth and Brennan persuade him to fight the cancer.

Which actor plays Brennan's father, former bank robber Max Keenan?

Ryan O'Neal plays Max Keenan, whom Booth arrests in the season-two finale; a jury acquits him once the defence shows Brennan had the same motive and opportunity.

Which Fox series crossed over with Bones in the season 11 episode 'The Resurrection in the Remains'?

Sleepy Hollow's Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills arrive to claim a headless corpse the Jeffersonian team has found, which proves to be 200 years old and tied to a modern murder.

What was the name of the short-lived 2012 Bones spin-off?

The Finder was launched from inside Bones: in a season-six episode of the same name, Booth calls in Walter Sherman, a man with a knack for unearthing anything, on an Everglades murder.

Where was Bones mostly filmed, despite being set in Washington, D.C.?

Los Angeles doubles for Washington on screen: the Jeffersonian's exterior shots are really of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Where was the two-hour season four premiere of Bones filmed on location?

London and Oxford host the premiere: Brennan is lecturing at Oxford when an American heiress is pulled from the Thames, and she and Booth join the case.

Where did the 15-year-old Temperance Brennan grow up after her parents vanished?

In foster care: her brother Russ, then 19, left soon after their parents did, and Brennan bounced between foster homes.

What do Booth and Brennan jokingly call the house they buy and renovate in season seven?

The Mighty Hut is a two-storey suburban house Booth finds at a police auction; the couple give up their separate apartments and renovate it together.

Which journalist does Booth date in season six after returning from Afghanistan?

Hannah Burley, a journalist Booth meets in Afghanistan, transfers to Washington and moves in with him in season six, but she turns down his marriage proposal and they split.

Which rewatch podcast did the actresses who played Brennan and Daisy Wick launch in 2024?

Boneheads was announced by Emily Deschanel and Carla Gallo in June 2023, but that summer's actors' strike held the launch back until September 2024.

On Bones, which archaeologist-turned-administrator ran the Jeffersonian in season one, never to appear again after a 'sabbatical'?

Daniel Goodman, played by Jonathan Adams, starts out clashing with Hodgins over his long-winded, unscientific manner, though the feud mellows into a friendly rivalry.

On Bones, which intern arrives in season nine as a forensic anthropologist seeking asylum in the United States?

Rodolfo Fuentes was already a qualified forensic anthropologist in Cuba, but his credentials aren't recognised in the US, so he starts again as one of Brennan's interns.

Brennan is an atheist, but her partner Booth is a devout member of which church?

The Catholic Church: Booth, a former altar boy, keeps debating God and heaven with Brennan, who files every religion under superstition unsupported by evidence.

Which British actor plays the eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Gordon Wyatt?

Stephen Fry plays Gordon 'Gordon Gordon' Wyatt, the psychiatrist who counsels Booth from season two and later quits psychiatry to train as a chef.

The 200th episode of Bones honours which director?

Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers shaped the 200th episode, set in 1950s Hollywood, which flips the leads: Booth becomes a notorious jewel thief and Brennan an LAPD detective fighting sexism.

What does Brennan temporarily lose in the Bones finale?

Her expertise: a head injury leaves Brennan unable to make sense of the bones, so five of the interns she trained pool what she taught them to finish the case.

Which real museum's long relationship with the FBI inspired Brennan's fictional workplace?

The Smithsonian Institution has examined bones for the FBI for decades: the Bureau delivers unidentified remains to the museum's anthropologists, much as Booth does to Brennan.

After whom is Booth and Brennan's daughter Christine named?

Christine is named for Temperance's late mother, Christine Brennan, whose remains surface in the season-one finale and reopen the mystery of her parents' disappearance.

After whom is Booth and Brennan's son Hank named?

Booth's paternal grandfather, Hank Booth, threw his own son out of the house for beating young Seeley and then raised Seeley and Jared himself.

In which branch of the military does Booth's younger brother Jared serve?

Jared later sacrifices his Navy career using military contacts to help rescue Seeley from the Gravedigger.

Why is Booth taken off a hockey player's murder case?

He's a suspect: in 'Fire in the Ice', Booth brawls with a rival during an amateur game, and the man later turns up dead in a frozen lake.

What do Angela and Hodgins name their son, born in season six?

Michael Vincent is short for Michael Staccato Vincent Hodgins: Angela's rock-star father pushed for 'Staccato Mamba', and the family compromised on a middle name.

Where was Zack Addy posted between seasons two and three of Bones?

Iraq: a request from the President's office sends Zack there at the end of season two, but he is back within three months, having failed to assimilate.

At which Washington bar does the Bones team usually celebrate a closed case?

The Founding Fathers is where the team toasts its wins, including the night a jury finally convicts the Gravedigger.

Who is revealed as the real Puppeteer killer in season 12?

Zack's doctor, Mihir Roshan, headed the facility where Zack was held; Booth shoots him just before he can inject Zack with a toxin.

Which product do Hodgins and intern Finn Abernathy sell together?

They sell a hot sauce after Hodgins reverse-engineers the recipe of Finn's late grandmother from her last remaining bottle; it becomes a modest business in season eight.

How is Hodgins injured in season 11, leaving him paralysed from the waist down?

A bomb attack at a crime scene seems to spare Hodgins, but he later collapses at the lab: swelling around his spinal cord has left him paralysed from the waist down.

Which nickname does Finn Abernathy give the wealthy Hodgins?

Finn calls the wealthy Hodgins 'Thurston', after Gilligan's Island millionaire Thurston Howell III; Hodgins answers by calling the Southern intern 'Opie'.

Why does Arastoo Vaziri initially fake an Iranian accent?

To avoid explaining his Islamic beliefs to fellow scientists, Arastoo plays the new arrival, until he loses his temper with Cam and the accent vanishes mid-rant.

Which intern is hired as the new forensic anthropologist while Brennan is on the run?

Clark Edison takes over Brennan's post while she is a fugitive and runs a tighter ship than she did, to the dismay of Angela and Hodgins.

What is the birth name of Brennan's brother, known on Bones as Russ?

Russ was born Kyle Keenan; the family took the name Brennan when parents Max and Ruth Keenan fled their bank-robbing past, Max becoming 'Matthew Brennan'.

Which FBI agent dates Brennan in season two, then sails off alone when she stays?

Tim 'Sully' Sullivan, played by Eddie McClintock, dates Brennan in season two and invites her to sail the Caribbean for a year; she declines and he leaves alone.

How does Max Keenan die in season 12?

Protecting his grandchildren, Max kills the gunmen who storm their safe house but is shot; he dies after surgery, moments after telling Brennan about a dream.

Executive producer Barry Josephson had bought the rights to make what about Kathy Reichs?

A documentary about Reichs was the property Josephson owned; the writer Fox sent to meet him first said he had no interest in a forensics show, then built a drama from it.

Which 1980s pop star plays Avalon Harmonia, the psychic Angela consults across several seasons?

Cyndi Lauper first plays Avalon Harmonia in the season-five premiere, where her tarot reading for Angela sends the team to bodies buried under a Washington fountain.

Which actor from The Practice played the older-than-usual intern Scott Starret?

Michael Badalucco played Scott Starret, a middle-aged former car salesman interning in season four; Hodgins recognises him as the man who sold him a hot rod that broke down within a week.

Which FBI agent temporarily substitutes for an incapacitated Booth in season four?

Payton Perotta, played by Marisa Coughlan, appears in three season-four episodes, twice standing in for Booth; when she calls the lab team 'her people', Hodgins and an intern correct her in unison: they are Booth's.

Which Fox mega-hit gave Bones a strong lead-in during its first season?

American Idol led into Bones on Wednesdays in early 2006; its first episode without that lead-in drew slightly more viewers than its last one behind it, and Fox renewed the show days later.

On which cable network did off-network syndication of Bones begin in 2008?

TNT began weekly Bones repeats in January 2008, starting from the pilot, while Fox itself was showing reruns to ride out the writers' strike.

Undercover at a circus as Buck and Wanda Moosejaw, Booth and Brennan perform which act?

Knife throwing is their cover act: the pair join the circus to investigate the deaths of conjoined twins who performed there, and Booth proves a steady hand with the blades.

Which cartoon character does Booth hallucinate in season four, an early sign of his brain tumour?

Stewie Griffin, voiced as usual by Seth MacFarlane, talks to Booth in 'The Critic in the Cabernet'; when Booth admits it, Brennan realises he needs a doctor.

In which series does the title character binge all 12 seasons of Bones in a week?

In Lucifer, the sleepless devil binge-watches Bones for a week purely to keep himself awake, and comes out of it obsessed with the characters.

Why was Fox ordered in 2019 to pay the Bones stars and producers $179 million?

Underpaid profits: an arbitrator found the studio had licensed Bones cheaply to its own network and to Hulu, shrinking the profit share it owed; a judge later struck the punitive part of the award.

Which rapper played Sid Shapiro, owner of Wong Fu's, in season one?

Rapper Heavy D played Sid Shapiro, the Wong Fu's owner who serves regulars what they need without being asked; he and the restaurant were dropped after season one.

Which actress played Rebecca Stinson, Booth's ex and Parker's mother?

Jessica Capshaw, later Arizona Robbins on Grey's Anatomy, played Rebecca, who turned down Booth's proposal when she was pregnant because she refused to be judged.

To what rank is Booth promoted when he returns to uniform at the end of season five?

Sergeant Major is the rank Booth takes to spend a year training soldiers in Afghanistan, while Brennan leaves for a dig in the Maluku Islands.

Who plays 'Pops', the Korean War veteran Booth takes in during season five?

Ralph Waite, John Walton Sr. on The Waltons, played Pops in seasons five, seven and nine; after Waite died in 2014 the part was never recast.

Who played rookie FBI agent Olivia Sparling?

Danielle Panabaker, later Caitlin Snow on The Flash, played rookie Olivia Sparling, who runs a case with Sweets while Booth is stuck at a desk fighting for his department's budget.

Which pastime is lab scientist Jack Hodgins known for?

Conspiracy theories are his hobby, yet he quietly belongs to the family behind the Cantilever Group, the single biggest donor to the institute he works for.

For which 2009 blockbuster's premiere do Hodgins, Sweets and intern Fisher camp out in a ticket line?

Avatar was plugged at the suggestion of its producer Jon Landau, and Fisher's actor Joel David Moore is in the film; Fisher still manages to miss the premiere.

Which TV legend, then in her nineties, guest-starred as veteran forensic anthropologist Beth Mayer?

Betty White's Dr. Beth Mayer returns in the final season, where her talk with Brennan about loving one's work leads Brennan to urge a half-hearted intern to find a career he truly loves.

Where had Brennan spent two months before the opening airport scene of the Bones pilot?

Brennan returns from two months in Guatemala identifying massacre victims; airport security detains her over the human skull in her bag until Booth intervenes.

What does Booth shoot in season two?

An ice cream truck's clown head is what Booth shoots in 'The Girl in the Gator'; the FBI takes his gun until psychiatrist Gordon Wyatt clears him for duty.

Who turns out to have murdered Senate intern Cleo Eller in the pilot?

Her boyfriend Ken Thompson, an aide to the senator she was rumoured to be seeing, killed Cleo because he feared her pregnancy would wreck his career.

Which horror icon guest-stars as the janitor who was Brennan's only friend at her old high school?

Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger himself, plays janitor Ray Buxley in 'The Death of the Queen Bee'; when a murder draws Brennan back for her class reunion, he helps her find the killer.

At which high-profile murder trial was Kathy Reichs retained as an expert witness?

Casey Anthony's defence retained Reichs, who examined Caylee's skeleton and could not determine a cause of death; she first refused, then agreed because she felt the case was being tried in the press.

Emily Deschanel played a receptionist in which 2004 superhero film?

In Spider-Man 2, Deschanel is the receptionist who refuses to pay Peter Parker for his late pizzas, citing the shop's 29-minute delivery guarantee.

Emily Deschanel's husband David Hornsby writes for and acts on which sitcom?

On It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hornsby writes, produces and plays Rickety Cricket, a priest whom the gang's schemes leave defrocked and destitute; he married Deschanel in 2010.

David Boreanaz was born in which upstate New York city, where his father was a TV weatherman?

Buffalo is where Boreanaz was born in 1969, because his father presented the weather and a children's show on local TV there; the family moved to Pennsylvania when he was seven.

On which sitcom did David Boreanaz land his first paid acting job in 1993?

On Married... with Children in 1993, Boreanaz played Kelly Bundy's unfaithful biker boyfriend, who ends up pummelled by Al; it was his first paid acting job.

How was Boreanaz reportedly discovered for Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

A neighbour saw him walking his dog past the house and recommended him for the part; by one account that neighbour went on to become his manager.

Which video game character did David Boreanaz voice in Kingdom Hearts?

Leon is Final Fantasy VIII's Squall, who renamed himself out of guilt at failing to save his home world; Boreanaz voiced him in 2002 and Doug Erholtz took over for Kingdom Hearts II.

Which military drama did Boreanaz star in after Bones ended?

SEAL Team cast Boreanaz as Bravo Team leader Jason Hayes; he took over the lead from Jim Caviezel a week before the Bones finale aired, and the drama later moved from CBS to Paramount+.

Where do Angela and Hodgins finally marry in season five?

In a jail cell: locked up over old warrants after Hodgins's reckless driving, the pair rekindle their romance behind bars and marry there.

Which famous rock guitar's name does Angela Montenegro carry as her middle names?

Pearly Gates is the 1959 Les Paul owned by the real rock star who plays her father; he named it after an old car whose sale paid for it.

Which Canadian city is Tamara Taylor from?

Toronto is where Tamara Taylor was born, to a Barbadian father and a Scottish mother; she left high school to model and see the world before turning to acting.

The creator of Bones originally planned to kill off Cam by having whom poison her?

Howard Epps poisons Cam during an autopsy in season two's 'The Man in the Cell'; she was written to die, but the producers liked Tamara Taylor's Cam too much to lose her.

In which Joss Whedon film did Tamara Taylor appear before joining Bones?

Serenity is the film Whedon made to continue Firefly after Fox, the home of Bones, cancelled the series; Taylor has a brief role in it as a schoolteacher.

Which actor plays FBI Assistant Director Andrew Hacker, Booth's boss?

Diedrich Bader, Oswald on The Drew Carey Show, played Assistant Director Andrew Hacker, Booth's boss, who briefly dated Brennan in season five.

Which blunt federal prosecutor calls almost everyone 'cher' or 'chérie'?

Caroline Julian, played by Patricia Belcher, is the prosecutor who once made a Christmas favour depend on Brennan kissing Booth under the mistletoe.

Which electronic duo wrote the Bones theme music?

The Crystal Method wrote the theme in 2005; the show used it for seven seasons, then switched to the duo's own remix from season eight.

Angela and Hodgins's first wedding is halted because she is already married, after a drunken ceremony where?

Fiji: Angela had married Grayson Barasa there in a boozy ceremony she assumed didn't count, until the State Department ruled it valid on her season-two wedding day.

How does Bones spin-off hero Walter Sherman explain his uncanny knack for finding things?

A wartime brain injury: Walter was the only survivor of a roadside bomb while serving overseas, and the damage left him paranoid, blunt and somehow able to find anything.

In Booth's coma dream that ends season four, he and Brennan are a married couple running what?

A nightclub called The Lab is theirs in 'The End in the Beginning', where the rest of the team turn up as staff and suspects when a body is found.

After whom did Booth name his son from an earlier relationship?

His fallen sniper spotter, Corporal Teddy Parker, died on a mission Booth long blamed himself for; in season four Parker's ghost appears to him while he is trapped by the Gravedigger.

On Bones, FBI agent Seeley Booth developed which addiction as a coping mechanism after leaving the military?

Gambling was Booth's vice, and he relapses in season 10 while undercover in an underground gaming ring.

Which NHL team does Booth follow devotedly?

Booth is a devoted Philadelphia Flyers fan, like Boreanaz himself, who grew up in Philadelphia rooting for the Flyers and Eagles.

What do Booth and Hodgins keep teasing Lance Sweets about?

His age: Sweets was just 22, already with two doctorates, and so boyish that he was often asked for ID in bars.

Which music was the buttoned-up psychologist Lance Sweets a devoted fan of as a teenager?

Death metal: 'Mayhem on a Cross' reveals he was a teenage fan who still puts it on after a bad day, a hint of a rougher past than his cheerful manner suggests.

Kathy Reichs, whose work inspired Bones, is professor emerita at which university?

UNC Charlotte is where Reichs is professor emerita of anthropology, and she gave the Brennan of her novels a teaching post at the same university.

With whom did Kathy Reichs co-write the Virals young-adult novels about Tempe's great-niece Tory?

Her son Brendan co-writes Virals, which was his idea; its teens gain wolf-sharp senses after catching an experimental virus while rescuing a wolfdog.

In Reichs's novels, Brennan works at a forensic lab in which Canadian city?

Montreal is home to the Quebec crime lab where the novels' Brennan works for half of each year; unlike her TV namesake she is a recovering alcoholic with a daughter in college.

Which 2011 comedy was the first feature film co-written by the actor who plays Lance Sweets?

Horrible Bosses was the first of his film scripts with Jonathan Goldstein to reach cinemas, though the pair had sold an earlier one, The $40,000 Man, in 2007; they later directed Game Night.