Why Jonathan Adams Left Bones And Never Came Back
"Bones" enjoyed an enviable 12 season run, but not all of the main cast was there to enjoy that success in its totality. One face who left after just a single season was the actor Jonathan Adams.
The title of "Bones" is a double entendre, referring both to physical human bones and the show's lead, Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel). Bones is a forensic anthropologist at the "Jeffersonian" (read: Smithsonian) Institute in Washington DC. She uses her skills to study human remains and help the FBI — especially Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) — solve murder cases old and new. As a police procedural with a forensic edge, "Bones" walks in the footsteps of "CSI." Only on this show, it's not the scenes of crimes that are investigated, but the leftovers.
During the show's first season, Adams played Dr. Goodman, the Jeffersonian's administrator and Bones' boss. At the end of season 1, he takes a sabbatical and never returns. Adams/Goodman was part of the main cast, so his abrupt departure is all the more noticeable. The result can be considered a case of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, but why did things turn out this way?
Not the right fit
In a 2006 interview with TV Guide, "Bones" creator Hart Hanson addressed Adams' departure. As he told it, it wasn't a problem with the actor ("We loved Jonathan and his performance"), but the character. As Hanson put it, the "Bones" writers were "prying [Goodman] into stories." By the end of season 1, they threw in the towel and decided to just write him out. Hanson added:
"When I started the series, I thought it would be more lab-centric and that [Bones'] boss, as an administrator, would have a larger role to play. And it just didn't work that way. David and Emily took off and we were underutilizing this wonderful actor."
"Bones" evolved from a lab drama to a police procedural because the audience loved the "Moonlighting"-esque dynamic between Bones and Booth. In the interview, Hanson stressed that Adams/Goodman was "not gone for good" and he hoped to bring him back. Hanson added that the Institute administrator getting involved in all the cases would be like, "having the President hanging around the Capitol." However, "Bones" would run for 11 more years without him returning. It's been reported that new character Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) fit the show much better, so there was even less incentive to bring back Goodman.
Don't worry about Adams, though, he's worked consistently since and enjoyed a career second act as a voice actor — that's what I know him from. His roles include Kang the Conqueror in "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and Vaatu in "The Legend of Korra." His deep, commanding voice rivals voice actors like Keith David or Steve Blum, so it's not surprising that he often voices powerful villains.