Why David Boreanaz Is Open To Returning As Seeley Booth For A Bones Revival

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It seems like pretty much every major TV show is getting either a reboot or a revival these days — so what about "Bones," the Fox procedural led by Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz (and created by Hart Hanson) that aired from 2005 to 2017? The show concluded after 12 seasons (with an ending that was, quite literally, explosive) and since then, there hasn't been any official word about whether or not the cast of "Bones" could find the time to come back together and play their characters again. Boreanaz, for his part, thinks it's doable.

Despite telling TV Insider (in 2024) that the experience was "lightning in a bottle," Boreanaz said that not only does he think fondly of the series, but he'd be down to return in some fashion. "I hold that so near and dear, and it would be great to relive that again," the "SEAL Team" actor continued.

According to Boreanaz, he feels like the characters were so lived-in and authentic that it would be really fun to play them again — especially his character, FBI agent Seeley Booth, and his colleague turned wife Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Deschanel). "It is the work ethic that we had putting into these characters and what we put out was entertainment for them, and I just can't tell you how much love and admiration we get from fans for these two characters," Boreanaz said. "And to see them come back would be great."

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In that same interview, David Boreanaz said that he thinks it would be relatively simple to bring "Bones" back, largely because of how much the cast and crew loved the project. "I mean, it's an easy one to do because it's so fun," he said. "It's not like, really, what are you going to do with it? It's just a lot of heart." Plus, Boreanaz shared that he thinks that, in a world of cookie-cutter procedurals, "Bones" was quite different, especially thanks to the way that Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan diverged in their beliefs. (While Booth is a man of religion, Temperance is firmly a woman of science, leading to many disagreements between the two.)

"When that show started, the procedurals were very story plot-driven, and we broke that mold and we were proud of that, that we could have these characters have fun over the corpses that [Brennan] was just banging out words about," the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" veteran mused. "And I'm just kind of, catch the killer and talk about last night's blender that didn't work in the morning or at night and how much you don't like eggs and how much I love [something] and you're going to bash me because I'm Catholic. It's like those philosophies, that sung for the viewers and then you slowly saw procedurals around us turn into that. And that was enlightening. So for us, it was lightning in a bottle and we wrote it."

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Whether or not there's ever a "Bones" revival — or even a season 13 — rests largely on the availability of the cast and crew, but apparently, they have chatted about the possibility in the years since "Bones" ended. In 2023, creator Hart Hanson told Variety, ""We are in contact with each other. Everybody on 'Bones' is in contact with each other. At separate times, it's like, 'What are you doing? What's the availability?' But we do keep talking. And every once in a while, we are all nostalgic enough to think, 'Maybe we should do it again.' Who knows? Maybe this will bump-start us."

A year before that, Emily Deschanel cheekily put the "blame" on Boreanaz, telling TVLine that she was down, but he was the holdout. "You know, I think it's always possible," the actress said at the time. "David Boreanaz said, 'Nope,' he's not doing it, but never say never for me. I don't know, it's possible, I'd be open, I don't know." Seeing as how this seems to contradict literally everything Boreanaz has said about a revival — including in a 2022 interview with The AV Club where he mused that "Bones" would be an easier project to reboot than, say "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" — that may or may not be true, but the point is that there's no word about any "Bones" revivals at this juncture. Until that day comes — if it ever does — "Bones" is available to stream on Hulu.