ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Its been a couple of months for Hodgins.
Where do we find him when we come back?
MICHAEL PETERSON:We find him further along in rehabilitation.
Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FOX
I would say in the first episode, we find him squarely living in the world of denial.
Hes not sharing things with her.
So its really the setup for whats going to be a journey for Hodgins.
This is not going to be some miracle cure.
Hes really going to go through these challenging times, and TJ did a magnificent job portraying it.
How are we going to see Angela respond to all of this?
Thats going to be the scariest part, I think.
Its like: What if she had stayed the artist?
What if she had been with an artist?
Where would that have gone?
There will be temptations.
Are those temptations primarily relationship based, or are there career-based changes that could possibly be considered as well?
Its mostly going to be relationship, but one goes hand in hand.
Everyone on the team takes a slightly different approach to Hodgins recovery.
I think Hart [Hanson, creator] hired me because I have a lot of Booth in me.
But its also just hope in the face of what seems to be hopeless.
That can carry people through.
It can have a great effect, and miracles can happen.
So I certainly take the view of Booth, but what were giving Hodgins is serious.
Its not something youre going to spring back from.
And I use the word fun loosely, because fun is also going to be heartbreaking at times.
Was there anything that you had to change on the set to accommodate Hodgins wheelchair?
As youll see in episode 12, we have an elevator all of a sudden.
Hopefully that will help the audience forgive some of the things that happen later.
Shes a 10, and Hodgins is a lovely man, but hes not a 10.
I think thats a lot of what his subconscious is telling him.
Im not worth it.
Im dragging you down.
Hodgins had a lot of anger management issues in the beginning of the series.
There have been a bunch.
You watch that again and youre like, This is fun.
Lets get some more of that back.
You see this internal struggle that he was having.
Shifting gears a bit, we have a new serial killer coming up.
The episode introducing the killer was inspired in part by the famously disturbingX-Filesepisode Home, correct?
Yeah, we do a little nod to it.
The biggest inspiration there was the music.
Shes like, How dare you take something I love so much?
What can we expect down the line from this serial killer?
Episode 13 is nothing compared to what we have coming.
Were going to go darker, scarier.
We will have episodes where you will want to wear a seatbelt.
I started in this business writing horror … That was something that I wanted to get back to.
This wasPsycho; the next episode well do is a little bit moreSpellbound, perhaps, mixed withPsycho.
But there is a very dark side to what she does.
How is that going to affect their approach to the job?
The effect of this is that I dont think they see the world that way anymore.
This is what theyre supposed to do.
If they leave, cases dont get solved.
This is an acceptance.
It makes you go, You know what?
Theres guilt associated with not being here.
We are who we are.
We do this very, very well, and this is where we belong.
What else is in store for Booth and Brennan in the back half of the season?
We have a hockey episode going on.
Anything you’re free to tease about that?
AndBoneshas been picked up for season 12.
Are you looking toward that at all?
Its going to be epic.
David Boreanaz is going to direct it.
