Why Bones' Season 11 Finale Was Super 'Awkward' For The Cast And Crew
It's never easy ending a season of television. The TV graveyard is littered with the bones of shows that accidentally ended on massive cliffhangers due to their creatives unsuccessfully gambling on being renewed for another batch of episodes. And speaking of "Bones" (look, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for an excuse to make that segue?), Hart Hanson's long-running Fox procedural came dangerously close to concluding on a cliffhanger itself after its 11th and penultimate season.
Contrary to what you might assume, seeing as the show ultimately lasted 246 episodes across 12 seasons, "Bones" was constantly on the bubble when it came to being renewed. Season 11 was no exception when it concluded on July 21, 2016. Despite the show's ratings holding steady, the rapidly changing television landscape (for context: "Stranger Things" premiered a mere six days before season 11 ended) meant the "Bones" cast and crew had no idea if there would even be a job for them to come back to in the fall.
Speaking to Assignment X in March 2017, Tamara Taylor (who played fan-favorite "wisecracking pathologist" Camille Saroyan in the series) recalled what it was like being in that peculiar state of limbo:
"Do you know, it's amazing because season 11 ended and it was pretty uncomfortable, because we didn't know if we were ending it-ending it, because it was on the bubble, and contracts hadn't been signed. Usually, we'd had the luxury of going into hiatus knowing that we were coming back. Season 11, not so much. They had to write it like it was a series finale as well as a season finale, which was really uncomfortable because we weren't sure if we were saying goodbye forever, or just goodbye for two months. That was awkward."
The Bones ending that almost was
"Bones" was far from the first series to include a season finale that could've doubled as a denouement. As I recall, Marvel's deeply under-appreciated "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." did the same thing at the end of its fifth season, only for ABC to unexpectedly renew it for a sixth and even a seventh abbreviated season. In that case, the show had to subsequently undergo a bit of a soft restart to lay the groundwork for its actual endgame in season 7.
By comparison, "Bones" was able to roll ahead smoothly upon being picked up for a 12th and final outing. It's a good thing it was, too, seeing as the season 11 finale, "The Nightmare in the Nightmare," ended with Bones herself, Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), being kidnapped by someone whose identity would remain a mystery until season 12. As Taylor noted in her interview with Assignment X, the show's writers elected to "sort of split the difference" with the cliffhanger, "which was really awkward. So to know that we were coming back and we got 12 episodes to wrap it up was such a blessing."
To be sure, after more than a decade of watching Bones and her other half, David Boreanaz's Seeley Booth, land themselves in hot water only to swiftly pull themselves out, ending like that would've left the "Bones" fanbase rightly stirred up something fierce. If it's any consolation, we "Twin Peaks" enthusiasts know the feeling all too well. If you "Bones" fans thought it was rough waiting to see if Bones' kidnapping would ever be resolved, just imagine what it was like waiting 26 frickin' years for "Twin Peaks: The Return" to finally pay off the show's infuriating season 2 cliffhanger.
You can stream all 12 seasons of "Bones" on Hulu and Freevee now.