Fantasy Life: Televisionary Talks to Hart Hanson About "Bones" Season Five

Wondering what's going on with Booth? Why Brennan ran off to Guatemala? With whom Angela will end her celibacy vow? You've come to the right place.

I caught up with Bones showrunner/executive producer Hart Hanson last week at the FOX party at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Pasadena, where I grilled him about Season Five of the FOX drama series.

Among the Bones-related topics under discussion: Booth's mental state when Season Five begins and his fantasy life, Hanson's reactions to fan complaints, Angela's celibacy vow, whether we can expect to see Stephen Fry reprise his role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt, Cyndi Lauper, new characters, the 100th episode, a return trip to London, and more.

But don't take my word for it. Dig in for my exclusive interview with Bones' Hart Hanson below.

Televisionary: Given that we last saw Brennan when Booth came out of his coma, what lands her in Guatemala?

Hanson: We've set up a few times that when she's really miserable she goes down there and identifies victims of the genocide down there and there are so many still remaining unidentified. So when she's really miserable she just throws herself into that. I've been getting grief on the message boards and Twitter about how she could just abandon Booth and all I can say is: she didn't. I promise you, Brennan did not abandon Booth. Watch the season opener; you'll see.

Televisionary: What is Booth's mental state when Season Five of Bones begins?

Hanson: It's six weeks later and Booth is contending with the confusion caused either by his real feelings for Brennan or the hangover--is that the right word?--the residue of his experience in his coma.

He is very confused about the world right now. He hasn't got amnesia. We come back just as Sweet says, okay, you can go back to work. But there's definite repercussions from what he went through at the end of the season finale. And I hope that will make people feel like their complaints about the season finale are being addressed in the season opener and people will like it more in retrospect. We'll find out.

Televisionary: How do you react to frustration from the fans over that reveal?

Hanson: I can't react. I just can't allow that to affect me. I always said, if you give the fans what they want, you'll be off the air almost immediately because all of their desires are met. And you need to play it out and risk being hated once in a while. But it's hard not to react.

The season opener was designed and mostly written before the season ender was edited together so I didn't know precisely [what the reaction would be]--though I had a pretty good idea of what it would be--I just got the proportions wrong. So I didn't have reactions to the season ender before I wrote the season opener but I stuck pretty closely to what the intention was from the beginning.

Televisionary: Will we see elements of Booth's fantasy life continue into the new season?

Hanson: (Pause.) No one's asked me that, damn you! Yes... We will see that other world, although not in the form it was in when Booth was in the coma. But we will have glimpses of what's inside people's brains.

Oh, my god. That was hard. I haven't practiced that answer yet because no one has asked me. I wonder why no one asked that yet!

Televisionary: Any chance that Stephen Fry will return to the series this fall?

Hanson: We are going after him. He's a very busy man; I talk to him all the time. Big brain box. We're checking his availability now for Episode Ten, which is our Christmas episode. We'd like to have him back. We already missed a chance to have him in the season opener because he was busy. He's just always busy! He has what? A million quiz shows and he's doing documentaries and what a lovely man. He wants to come do the show again. So Episode Ten and I hope one other [episode] after that or two, if we're lucky.

Televisionary: You said at San Diego Comic-Con that Cyndi Lauper heard Emily singing her cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and that's what led her to guest starring on Bones. What was it like working with her?

Hanson: It was awesome. She is a crazy, fascinating character. Her voice, everything about her. She just has a unique way of speaking that you just try to cram into the script. She was just wonderful, just terrific. We'll have her back, we'll have her back a number of times.

Televisionary: Is Lauper contracted for a set number of episodes?

Hanson: No, we can't do that. We can tell our intention to her people that we'd like to have her back here and there and [ask] what her schedule looks like. Same with all of our guest stars. We can't tie them down so it's a constant juggling of availabilities and stuff. But she wants to do it and we want her back. We know her touring dates, we know when she's available, so we'll make it work.

Televisionary: Who else do you have showing up this year as guest stars?

Hanson: We have Stephen Fry showing up for two or three [episodes], Jared [Booth]--Brendan Fehr--will be back. I want to cast one more intern. I have an idea for a severely bi-polar intern that will be amusing and touching; that's what we do.

Televisionary: Male or female?

Hanson: Don't know yet. Probably male, just because the lab tends to be heavily female anyway and we want to keep the balance. And we have Daisy. We will look at both men and women and see who pops. We've had a lot of luck with these interns, with what good actors they are. They are awesome.

Televisionary: So we'll still see a revolving door of squints then?

Hanson: Yes, we're going to keep doing that for a while. Eric Millegan--who plays Zack--is moving to New York so he's a little bit less accessible than he was before. But we'd just love to have him back. We love that guy but he's a guest star now too.

Televisionary: Where do we find Angela next season?

Hanson: I just today wrote Angela breaking her celibacy. If you remember from last year, she was going to do six months of being celibate at Sweet's advice, so just today she broke her stretch of celibacy... I'm not saying with whom. Someone we know. I told [Michaela Conlin] about fifteen minutes ago and she went [makes excited gasping noise]. So it was a good reaction!

Televisionary: Is there any chance of Booth and Brennan returning to London next season?

Hanson: I just met Stuart Murphy, who replaced Richard Woolfe at Sky1, and he would like very much to help make that happen. I guess Bones is a great performer for Sky and he's very interested in talking to us about making that happen. We would jump at the chance to go over there again. For one thing, it would be great to use Indira Varma again. Wow! She's incredibly good and it was fun with her and Booth. So we'd be interested in looking for a way to do that. Maybe, though it's too soon to say, for an episode later in the season or a season ender there. It would be great then.

Televisionary: What can you tell us about Bones' upcoming 100th Episode, which will be directed by David Boreanaz?

Hanson: I don't know a thing about it yet! Except that it will be a story with lots of swoopy camerawork because that's what David likes. He likes those cranes swooping around. It will be Episode Sixteen of this year. I don't know what the story is but we will pull out some stops for that one. It's a big, important episode for us.

Bones' fifth season launches September 17th at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.