With this week’s Bones episode, fans are going to get their first peek at the potential Finder spin-off series. Brennan and Booth will travel to Florida to investigate a murder, enlisting the help of Walter Sherman and company in order to track down a key piece of evidence.

Bones and Finder series creator, Hart Hanson, spoke with reporters about the shows via conference call. While he was careful, not to give away too many spoilers, as is so depressingly often the case, there were more than a few tantalizing tidbits.

Babies and the Future of Bones
First off, Hanson definitively confirmed that we will see the arrival of Angela and Hodgins’ baby by the end of season 6. An awful lot of the finale will be devoted to the newest member of the Jeffersonian team, although the details of his or her arrival may need to come from other spoilers.

While the fictional baby will not affect too much of the Bones world (Hanson confirmed that Angela isn’t about to disappear even a little), a certain real baby might have more of an impact. Bones star Emily Deschanel is due to have her own baby at some point in the coming year, and the show will need to work around it. Although Hanson stressed that no decision has been made, he did indicate that a shortened season or several episodes without Brennan were possibilities.

Finding Out About the Finder
While we’ll learn a lot on Walter Sherman and his pals on Thursday’s Bones, Hart Hanson gave a little more background during the conference call. Amidst that background was some information on the cast of a potential Finder series.

The main cast will consist of the trio we will see on the Bones episode: Walter, Leo and Ike. The only other set character will be a law enforcement officer (either with the FBI or the Miami Police Department) named Isabelle who will be an on-again, off-again and apparently casual love interest (Hanson: “It’s more emotional than romantic.”) for Walter Sherman.

But it’s definitely not another Bones situation. According to Hanson: “I’d really like to avoid doing another will-they-or-won’t-they series.”

Considering how much trouble Bones fans have caused in this respect, that seems to be a very fair statement.

Click here to watch preview videos for “Finder.”

Crossover Craziness
Hanson sees this week’s episode as a crossover episode between Bones and the Finder series. You know, assuming the latter actually existed. As a result, the episode will spend a significant amount of time following the investigation of Walter Sherman and his sidekicks.

Hanson was very aware of possible issues with this choice. During the conference call, he commented: “My worry is that my Bones fans will feel away from their people more than they would be comfortable, unless these guys charm them instantly.”

That’s not to say that our favorite Bones characters will not be around. In addition to Brennan and Booth wandering about the swamps of southern Florida, the Jeffersonian crew will show up to investigate and to interact with Walter. According to Hanson, only Sweets will miss the chance to spend some time with the star of the Finder universe.

Hanson also revealed some other crossover ideas for Bones, this time with existing series. In addition to an all-too-realistic crossover idea with House (although a universe containing both Brennan and House might cause surrounding characters’ heads to explode) and a joking (maybe?) BonesTreme meetup, Hanson posited a crossover with another Fox show: Fringe. While that crossover would be insane — the concept being two different lines of investigation stemming from the same crime — it might also be awesome.

Too bad it’s not terribly likely to happen.

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Are you looking forward to this week’s Bones episode? Does the Finder series seem like something you would watch? With which shows do you think Bones should crossover? Let us know in the comments section!

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Laurel Brown

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include ChuckModern FamilySupernaturalMad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.