The Return of Christopher Pelant?

No, Christopher Pelant is not gone for good. He will be back. And he will be back soon. Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan confirm that Pelant will appear in the Bones episode in production now, set to air at some point in January. Even that may not be the end of the high-tech killer. "We're starting to talk about our season ender," the producers hint. "And he may or may not be a part of that."

Whenever Christopher Pelant actually returns, we can expect his shadow to loom over season 8. "They know Pelant isn't going anywhere," Stephen Nathan says of the Bones characters. "They've all been completely changed by this war with Pelant."


A Sweet(s) Roommate

As you may have seen from photos of upcoming episode, poor Lance Sweets is going to be moving in with Booth and Brennan. His relationship with Daisy gone, the psychologist just needs somewhere to stay.

But could it be permanent? Or even semi-permanent?

Maybe.

The original plan for the Sweets-as-roommate story was limited to one episode. It's not anymore. "It was just too much fun," Hart Hanson explains. "If something's fun, we're going to stick with it for a long time."

What does this mean for the domestic bliss in a Booth-Brennan-Sweets household? One of the fun outcomes may be in the realm of psychology -- used against Sweets. Even though Brennan has never been a fan of the psychological sciences, she is willing to learn things to use against her favorite shrink. "She keeps reading his books," Stephen Nathan says.




Ballroom Dancing and Roller Derby

Yes, Bones season 8 will feature both of these sports.

An upcoming episode of the show will take Booth and Brennan undercover into the world of ballroom dancing -- a world peopled with Mary Murphy, Tyce Diorio and a whole bunch of So You Think You Can Dance alumni.

Booth and Brennan will not, however, be quite the amateurs we might expect. "We find out in this that Booth actually taught ballroom dance in college to make money," Nathan offers. So we can expect Seeley Booth to rock it on the dance floor? Hart Hanson confirms this: "I watched David Boreanaz learn to rumba in about five minutes."

What about Brennan? Can she dance? The answer is probably a no, even though Brennan herself will not believe that. "She believes as long as she can look at someone dance, she can replicate that exactly," Nathan explains. "And I can tell you, that's just not true."

As for roller derby, we may get a some of the expertise from an unexpected source: Angela. "Angela has a little bit of experience in this area," Hanson says. Stephen Nathan adds, "Angela has been roller-skating a lot more than anybody knew."


Family and Friends

There should be plenty of fun coming in the form of Bones family and friends in upcoming episodes. For one thing, there will be a surprise member of Brennan's family appearing in season 8: "We are actually going to see a family that we don't expect to see," Stephen Nathan says. The person in question apparently has been seen or mentioned in passing but never met in detail.

Who could that be? No clue.

As for other family, the executive producers still hope to bring Booth's mother in for season 8, although there has been no casting or final planning on that yet. We will see recurring family and friends played by Ryan O'Neal, Billy F. Gibbons, Cyndi Lauper and Reed Diamond.

Other casting news isn't quite as exciting, as neither executive producer could think of any big guest stars. At least Stephen Nathan has an excuse for that: "The nature of Bones is that it doesn't provide a lot of stunt-casting. Because everyone is dead."

He has a point.


The 9/11 Episode

One of the major factors of the 9/11 episode, "The Hero in Purgatory," (airing on November 12) is the presence of five of Brennan's squinterns -- all of the boys. Why are they there? There are a couple of reasons. One is just to have Brennan dealing with a lot of guys: "It's Brennan dealing with a team of males," Stephen Nathan explains. As for why Daisy didn't show up, the explanation is simple: "I think there was also an availability issue," Nathan continued.

But there is another, more somber reason for so many squinterns in "The Hero in Purgatory": their stories. Because the squinterns were all young people at the time of 9/11, their perspective will be those of children faced with tragedy. That should be interesting.


Bones returns with new episodes on Monday, November 5 at 8pm on FOX.

(Images courtesy of FOX)