What Happened To The Cast Of Fox’s Bones?

If you’re a fan of the long-running crime procedural “Bones” — which kicked off in 2005 and concluded in 2017, spanning 12 seasons and 246 episodes — then you’re definitely familiar with its core cast, who play a mix of scientists and cops trying to solve cases using forensics and, well, a whole lot of bones. (No, really. If you’re unfamiliar with “Bones,” you’re not prepared for how often they say the word “bones.”) 

Based on the book series by real-life forensics expert Kathy Reichs and led by Emily Deschanel as the titular “Bones” — or, more accurately, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who bears the on-the-nose nickname “Bones” — the show centers around the fictional Jeffersonian Institute Medico-Legal Lab, which collaborates with the FBI to solve cases based on sparse human remains in Washington D.C. (In real life, the Smithsonian Institute did the same thing with the FBI.) So what happened to the core cast of “Bones” since the show ended in the late 2010s, and what projects have they undertaken since playing police officers and scientific experts?

A scientist with an extremely complicated backstory, Emily Deschanel’s Temperance Brennan is as brilliant as she is blunt (whenever any of her contemporaries make a pop culture reference, she immediately responds, “I don’t know what that means”). Gifted the nickname “Bones” by her FBI colleague Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz, whom we’ll return to in a moment), Temperance can be a bit awkward in social situations, but she’s still extremely close with many of her coworkers at the Jeffersonian, especially her best friend Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin). During the conclusion of season 1, Temperance discovers that her birth name is Joy Keenan and that her family was involved in local crime before they disappeared, giving her a new understanding of her past (she spent a decent amount of her childhood in foster care). As the show continues, Temperance and Booth start a relationship; in season 6, she reveals that she’s pregnant with their baby, and they get married in season 9 and have a second child in season 11.

Deschanel is from a pretty well-known industry family — her mother is actress Mary Jo Deschanel, her father is director-cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, and, of course, her sister is “New Girl” and “500 Days of Summer” star Zooey Deschanel — and after “Bones” wrapped up, she appeared on a handful of big TV shows. She lent her voice to both “BoJack Horseman” and “The Simpsons” as herself, played Angela (in a recurring role) on the TNT drama “Animal Kingdom,” and lent her voice to “Superstore” for the season 5 episode “Employee App.” In 2022, Deschanel appeared as the series lead Dr. Suzanne Mathis in the Netflix original miniseries “Devil in Ohio.”

As the co-lead of the show, David Boreanaz’s character Seeley Booth appears in every single episode of “Bones” alongside Temperance Brennan, and the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” veteran brings some much-needed levity to Bones’ whole deal. A former sniper for the United States Army Rangers and Philadelphia sports enthusiast — he’s got Philadelphia Flyers paraphernalia all over his office and references the team a lot — who works as a special agent for the FBI, Booth brings Temperance down to earth quite a bit, usually asking her to translate her scientific jargon to “English” as a reminder that not everyone she speaks to shares her same brilliance in her field. Booth has one son from his first marriage and ultimately gives into his feelings for Temperance, marrying her and settling down despite their fundamental differences — while Temperance only believes in science, Booth is quite spiritual and often butts heads with her over that divide. (Also, fun fact: the show frequently “confirms” that he is related to John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.)

Boreanaz was already a pretty big star by the time he started working on “Bones,” and he actually signed onto a brand new show as soon as it concluded. In 2017, Boreanaz joined the CBS series “SEAL Team,” where he plays United States Navy SEAL Master Chief Petty Officer Jason Hayes, and he’s also directed for the show and serves as an executive producer; the show is still running today. Still, anyone who doesn’t remember Boreanaz specifically from “Buffy” or his spin-off “Angel” probably still knows him as Seeley Booth.

Not every single person at the Jeffersonian has to spend all of their time elbow-deep in a pile of old bones — and in fact, Angela Montenegro, played by Michaela Conlin, definitely isn’t interested in anything of the sort. Angela’s role at the institute is as a “forensic artist,” and beyond basic sketches, she uses a 3D graphics program — which she and other characters dub both the “Angelanator” and the “Angelatron” — to try and reconstruct the faces of the victims studied by the team. As Temperance’s best friend, Angela is always there to support her personally and professionally, and has an on-again, off-again relationship with one of her colleagues, Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) throughout the series (they eventually get married and have a son). Also, Angela’s father is played by ZZ Top’s guitarist Billy Gibbons, who plays an exaggerated version of himself … which is pretty awesome.

While she was still on “Bones,” Conlin appeared in some pretty high-profile movies — including “Enchanted” and “The Lincoln Lawyer” — and in 2021, she played a supporting role in Eric André and Kitao Sakurai’s absurdist comedy “Bad Trip.” On the small screen, you’ve probably seen Conlin on “Yellowstone,” where she played the undercover journalist Sarah Nguyen for a handful of episodes in the first season (before meeting an … unfortunate end), and she also showed up on “For All Mankind” and Dollface in recurring roles.

Because they study a lot of bodies in various states of decomposition and decay, the Jeffersonian employs an entomologist (a zoologist who studies bugs, basically), and that entomologist is none other than Jack Hodgins (played by T.J. Thyne). Hodgins, who often just goes by his last name, is also an expert on minerals and spores (which also comes in handy at the lab) and loves a good conspiracy theory, but that doesn’t mean he’s not an incredible scientist; he’s often able to give Booth a victim’s time of death based on teeny-tiny pieces of evidence. Something Hodgins doesn’t often tell people is that he comes from an incredibly wealthy family and that he personally sponsors the Jeffersonian’s work (his colleagues eventually discover this), but clearly, he keeps his background and his work extremely separate. Hodgins has some serious ups and downs throughout the series, but his most dire moment comes in season 11 when he survives a bombing; from that point on, he is paralyzed from the waist down. Then, of course, there’s his long-running relationship with Angela — and by the end of the series, Hodgins is thriving as a husband, a dad, and the interim head of the Jeffersonian.

After “Bones,” Thyne appeared in single episodes of major TV hits like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Rookie,” “NCIS,” and “Chicago Med.” Beyond those, Thyne also showed up in a few recurring roles on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Gentefied,” and the miniseries “The Offer,” which chronicled the making of “The Godfather” (Thyne played real-life cinematographer Gordon Willis).

Camille Saroyan, a pathologist who heads up the Jeffersonian’s forensic department and who’s played by Tamara Taylor, actually isn’t one of the original characters on “Bones.” She doesn’t show up until the second season — where she replaces the former department head Dr. Daniel Goodman (Jonathan Adams), who disappears after Season 1 — but she sticks around for the rest of the series. As an experienced coroner, Camille frequently uses as much live tissue as she can find on the victims, as well as bodily fluids, to help Booth and Temperance solve their cases. Besides a brief season 2 dalliance with Booth himself, Camille’s main romantic connection is with Jeffersonian intern Arastoo Vaziri (Pej Vahdat), whom she ultimately marries in the series finale.

Taylor has certainly stayed busy since her time as Camille on “Bones.” In 2019, she appeared in several episodes of the Netflix series “Altered Carbon,” following that with “October Faction,” a 2020 original for the streamer. (That same year, she also played Sybil on “Agents of “S.H.I.E.L.D.” Taylor went on to play Angela Wheatley on the “Law & Order” spinoff “Organized Crime” for the first two seasons — including a crossover episode with “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” — and in 2023, she showed up on the FX drama series “Snowfall.” 

Introduced as a main character in season 1 of “Bones,” Dr. Zack Addy (Eric Millegan) initially works as a lab assistant and intern under Temperance Brennan. As the series continues past season 3, Millegan only appears as a guest star across seasons 4, 5, 11, and 12 — though he’s definitely still a major part of the action. Zack is initially a quiet young graduate student who seems unsure of himself despite his clearly advanced intelligence and solid instincts — and like Temperance, he’s a bit socially awkward and is often unable to fully perceive sarcasm and jokes because he takes things quite literally. Unfortunately, his character takes a dark turn at the end of season 3 when it’s revealed that he’s been secretly working for a serial killer and cannibal known as the Gormogon, and in the immediate aftermath, he’s sent to a psychiatric facility. In season 12 (also the final season), Zack kidnaps Temperance to prove that he’s not another serial killer known as The Puppeteer, and eventually, the Jeffersonian crew comes together to prove that he’s innocent; he’s eventually acquitted of murder but has to finish his sentence for assisting the Gormogon.

Millegan, as it happens, hasn’t acted in any major projects since “Bones.” If you’re really jonesing for more Zack Addy, though, he is on Cameo. He also does community theater; in 2021, he appeared in a local production of “Elf” in Eugene, Oregon.

John Francis Daley’s FBI psychologist Dr. Lance Sweets first shows up in the third season of “Bones” and helps Temperance come to terms with her father’s criminal history; after that, he becomes a part of the Jeffersonian gang and helps them delve into the psyches of the killers they hunt. Sweets is a close friend of both Temperance and Booth — he even lives with them for a little while — and despite the fact that he’s a lot younger than his colleagues, he’s very shrewd when it comes to psychoanalysis, which actually freaks a lot of his coworkers out from time to time (especially Booth and Brennan because he can read them so well). Sweets also works as a therapist for Zack Addy after his association with the Gormogon. Eventually, he starts a relationship with Daisy Wick (Carla Gallo), who works at the institute as an intern with Temperance, and the two reveal that they’re having a baby in the season 10 premiere. Sadly, that’s the same episode where Sweets is killed (by a rogue Navy SEAL working for a shadowy figure), discovered moments before his death by Booth and Brennan after he’s fatally stabbed in a parking lot.

Before “Bones,” Daley was definitely best known for his childhood role on the beloved, short-lived series “Freaks and Geeks,” and in recent years, he’s started working behind the camera more and more. Daley has co-written a whole host of hit movies, not limited to but including both “Horrible Bosses” films, the National Lampoon remake “Vacation,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Game Night,” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” and “The Flash” series. As for acting, his most recent appearance was on a 2019 episode of the comedy series “Drunk History.”