"I hope this year is not the last year," said Fox Networks Group chairman and CEO Peter Rice during last Sunday's TV press tour. He added, "It's a fantastic series that has famously moved all over our schedule, it's done that for 10 years."
Despite often having its time slot changed, Bones has continued to perform well at the ratings. It has kept its fan base steady and loyal. For Season 10, Bones will again be moved to another time slot. It will return this fall, premiering on September 25, and will be airing every Thursdays, 8:00 PM.
In early January, it may be recalled that Fox Entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly told reporters at a Television Critics Association press tour Q & A session that Bones will "likely" end with its tenth season. So far, there has been no official confirmation.
Also, Bones lead actors Emily Deschannel and David Boreanaz are both approaching the end dates of their respective contracts with the network. Of that, said Rice, "It's Emily and David's last year contractually, so we'll have to have that conversation with them as well. But I hope that they will come back."
Fans too are hoping that Bones won't be terminated anytime soon, especially after that cliffhanger of an ending to Season 9's last episode. According to executive producer Stephen Nathan in an interview with Give Me My Remote, Bones Season 10 will be set three months after what happened during the Season 9 finale. This means that Booth will have been in jail for three months awaiting trial for the murder charges. It also means that Dr. Brennan and the rest of the Jeffersonian Institute team will have already been working on the evidence for the last three months. Hodgins (T.J. Thine), it seems, will finally be vindicated in that the conspiracy-theory obsessions that he has carried with him for the past nine seasons will now be shown not to be so far-fetched after all.
For Season 10, according to a scoop by TVLine, there will also be a new character named "James Aubrey," to be played by actor John Boyd, who will be introduced in the show as a junior FBI agent and he will be assigned as Booth's protege. The character's description in the casting notice says "he's a charming, charismatic, politically ambitious twentysomething guy who views everything as a stepping stone to something better - head of the FBI or even President of the United States." Will he help or hinder Bones and company? We'll know for sure when next season starts this coming fall.
