When Bones’ Final Season Will Premiere

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(Image credit: Photo courtesy of Fox.)

For every former fan that may be surprised to hear Bones was actually renewed for this TV season, there's an avid fan out there that has been waiting quite a while to hear new news about Bones' final season on Fox. The network announced this morning that Bones has nabbed a long-awaited premiere date for Season 12. The new episodes will hit the schedule on Tuesday, January 3, only on Fox.

Fox broke the news in an announcement this morning, also noting that Bones: The Final Chapter is expected to provide some closure to the Booth and Brennan storyline, as well as for the other main characters who work at the Jeffersonian. Angela and Hodgins, in particular, have gone through a rough patch during the last season or so. There's also that big finale twist that will need to be addressed and figured out. We don't know a ton in regards to what the episodes will entail, but Tamara Taylor (Cam) did reveal at Comic-Con that we should expect a wedding from Season 12, and the new information from Fox corresponds with that:

Fans also will experience a wedding, follow an epic serial killer storyline, go undercover in a lumberjack competition and see Booth and Brennan's marriage get put to the test.

In addition to all of the stuff that needs to be wrapped up in regards to the plot, Fox is also saying that we should expect some fun guest stars to pop up, as is common with case of the week procedurals. So far, the series is not naming any of the guest stars for the final season, but we're hopeful that faces from throughout the show's run will make an appearance, since Fox is going all out on this whole wrapping up the storyline in a way that will appeal to fans thing.

When Fox renewed Bones for Season 12, it was a big surprise. The show had been increasingly faltering in the ratings, and had some major trouble airing opposite Sleepy Hollow last season. It seems as if the show was destined to be cancelled, especially since the leads had to re-up their contracts to make a final season happen. And then Fox came out of nowhere with a final season renewal order.

At the time, we learned that Season 12 would actually be a shortened season and that the show would only be getting 12 episodes to wrap things up. With that in mind, midseason actually seems like a good fit for the Fox drama, and Tuesday night could work out for the show. Right now, Fox has New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Scream Queens airing on that night, and presumably Bones will be replacing the Ryan Murphy drama after it finishes its Season 2 run. There's always the chance Fox is going to have some major reshuffling going on at midseason, too. We'll keep you updated. In the meantime, you can find out what is still coming this fall with our fall TV premiere schedule.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.