By Christina Radish

David Boreanaz at the 2008 San Diego Comic Convention in San Diego, Calif.

Series star David Boreanaz spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about what viewers can expect from Agent Booth in Season 4 of the hit series.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How will Booth evolve as a character this season?

David Boreanaz> We really get back into Booth’s past. We’ll see his apartment. We’ll see where he’s living this year, and how he lives. One specific idea that I have, in general, that I really want to exploit is how Booth is, on the outside, very charming. He has all of his shields up. But, here is a guy who was an Army ranger. He was a sniper, and we touched on that in the first episode. He was tortured and he got hit in the shins. It would be nice to see how Booth gets ready in the morning, and to see him start the day because, when you do see him, he’s always on the move. He always has all of this stuff that protects him, but what really lies underneath all that is good stuff. I think we’ll exploit that this year.                                

MediaBlvd> Are there any other aspects of Booth that you’d like to see developed more?

David> I would like to get back to his dad and his grandfather maybe just to figure out his family history. There’s something lethal about Booth that’s really intriguing to me, that we haven’t really seen. He has a bit of a dark side to him that I really would enjoy exploiting. I do think he’s the type of guy that can switch on and off pretty quick. If you really get him angry, he can snap, and people would fear him pretty easily.

MediaBlvd> What will this season entail for Bones and Booth?

David> Right off the bat, it’s really focusing on their relationship and how that affects how they solve crimes or how they move forward, in whatever case they’re working on. We honor and really support the character work, and that’s what we strive for on the show, which makes us different from other procedurals out there. We love doing that kind os character stuff, and we balance it out with the procedural stuff and the case. Again, the characters will get closer and then further away. I know (executive producer) Hart Hanson has some ideas for some fantasy episodes and getting the two of them in bed, to some extent. It’s just really working on our relationships and supporting each other, and maybe going into Booth’s past a little bit, seeing where he came from and seeing how that affects his relationship with Bones.

MediaBlvd> How will that fantasy play out?

David> I don’t know. I think that’ll come more towards the end of the season rather than the forefront. The whole point of the show is that give and take. You want to really give the audience what they’re asking for, but at the same time, you have to do it smart without tipping your hat too much. The beauty of it is that we’re allowed to do that and put the characters in circumstances that dictate that, even in London, where Bones was with someone and I was with another woman. It brought up all this stuff. It puts things in perspective for the characters.

MediaBlvd> Will we also see a next step for Booth and Bones in reality? 

David> That evolves. For me to say when that’s going to happen, it’s difficult because the beauty of our show is that, as we work on each episode and we find moments, that’s where it really evolves. The job, as an actor, is to really bring that to the table because when writers see that or our show writers see that, they get excited about it and they explore that avenue.  It’s a moment-to-moment thing for our characters.

MediaBlvd> What draws these characters to each other? What do they find sexy about each other?

David> They’re very much alike, in a lot of ways, but they’re also very not alike. There’s that little kid inside Booth that she really enjoys because maybe she lost part of that, as far as her character is concerned, as she is so straight and serious and very literal. For him to shake that up, there’s a part of her that enjoys seeing that, but it’s also frustrating because it annoys her, at times. And, she does the same to Booth. That’s the balance.

MediaBlvd> Was the chemistry between you and Emily immediate?

David> They seem to have thought so. When we first did the test, we had one woman in mind for the role and I thought she was going to get the role. I went in and read with her and another girl, and then Emily too. After Emily tested, and she did her test for the network, they had seen something in that test that sparked and they were like, “That’s the girl!” So, that happens. When you see that, then you develop it and you work at it. I’m very fortunate to have somebody who wants to work at it together, and that’s what we do. 

MediaBlvd> Do you ever worry that, if you take the romance between the characters a little too far, the show could have the problems that Moonlighting had?

David> I hope that it doesn’t. The more we can keep the characters away, the better. I do believe that you don’t want to give too much away.

MediaBlvd> Last season, the addition of Sweets to the whole Booth/Brennan dynamic was really inspired. Do you think your writing team does a good job of mixing the action and the comedy?

David> It’s a very fine line. There are a lot of moments where I’m like, “Oh, David, you’re playing Booth a little bit too much over the top or a little too goofy.” Those notes come to me sometimes because I bring in at least 150% of my energy into scenes. It’s a lot easier to bring them down. That comes from the work that we do with our acting coach, Ivana Chubbuck, who is fantastic. She’s an Academy Award-winning coach and she allows us the ability to give our ideas and work in those improvisational moments. The characters pop and create the show today, and makes it better and more fun to watch because of those moments, like with Sweets. Giving someone couple’s counseling to deal with themselves in the workplace is phenomenal.  I don’t think you’ve ever really seen that in television. It was very groundbreaking for us, last year. It was a big plus for us. And, to use that this Season 4, with criminology and in the  investigation and interrogation scenes, and him helping us out, it just adds a whole other clog, or piece of the puzzle, to our show. For us, it’s really about our relationships and the moments that we find that we bring to the table, and that’s how they get developed.     

MediaBlvd> The Season 3 finale revealed that Zack (Eric Millegan) was an apprentice to the Gormogon serial killer, landing him behind bars. Can you shed any light on how soon and under what circumstances viewers will next see poor Zack?

David> I don’t think we should call him “poor Zack.” He was a choice of character that obviously needed to be changed up or put somewhere else. Zack’s not really going anywhere. We will see him again, throughout Season 4, in certain circumstances. We just actually shot an episode where he got out and actually helped us solve something, and then I had to put him back into prison, which was pretty funny. But, where he is right now, as far as his character or his concern, benefits the show, in some ways. I’m sure people are upset about that, but that is really something to ask (executive producer) Hart Hanson about, as far as what his ideas are for what they’re going to use him for, how long they will use him for, and to what extent.

MediaBlvd> Has your involvement in the show made you something of an armchair detective? When you see an unfortunate crime story on CNN or what not, do you find yourself trying to solve it with your limited FBI knowledge?

David> I really don’t. I’m more interested in the character work with Booth than I am about the straight-laced performance of breaking a case, although I do enjoy the aspect of working with Mike Grasso, who is our tech on the show, and going out and shooting with him, using firearms responsibly, and tactics and stuff like that. That, I enjoy. His gut and his instinct is where he gets his je new sais quoi, so to speak, as far as being a detective is concerned and figuring out a crime.

MediaBlvd> You got to film the season premiere in England. Did you get to travel around in any greater degree of anonymity, or are they just as on top of things as over there?

David> It was a bit chaotic and crazy in London. In general, Europe is a bit hairy for me, more so there than it is over here in the States, in certain areas, when you walk out your door or go to certain places. There is definitely a following with the show, and the presence over there of shooting and knowing that we were there, people were coming up and the fans were following us around.  They were very supportive and very friendly, but it did make for crazy moments. When I would leave my hotel room or go out for a run, it was a bit nuts, but other than that, it was okay. 

MediaBlvd> Both you and Emily are producers on this show. What involvement do you have in the storylines, and suggesting new things for the writers and producers?

David> We bring in a lot of our improvisational moments and character stuff. That’s all our ideas. It really is a moment of reworking scripts, dialogue and changing some things, here or there, and going to Hart and telling him about it, and saying, “We have an idea for this,” or “We’d like the scene to develop this way rather than this way.” It’s really a lot of character development and ideas that we have that we implement into the storyline and/or into a script.

MediaBlvd> How did you come to be directing an episode of the show?

David> It’ll be over the Thanksgiving break. I don’t know the storyline yet, or the breakdown of it, but I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to putting on a different hat, for sure.

MediaBlvd> Have you done any directing previously?

David> Yes, I have. I’ve directed in the past. It’s not totally new, but it’s definitely new because it’s a whole new show and a new environment. When you work, day in and day out, with these guys, it makes it a little bit easier.

MediaBlvd> Your two previous TV shows were more cultural hits than ratings juggernauts. How does it feel to have Bones be so widely viewed and so widely accepted?

 David> I think what’s great about Bones is that it’s been embraced by the critics and by a following of people that have really supported us from the beginning, which in retrospect is the same with the other shows that I was on. You have to look at it in perspective, and think about what network it was on and what it did for that particular network, at that particular time. We pretty much remain still under the radar. There’s a lot of growth for our show, as far as not becoming too popular, but maintaining a really nice steady climb, not only in the ratings, but also with the new fan base that comes on, every year. In fact, we were able to get it to TNT this year and expose it to even more people and get them excited about Season 4, which I think will be big for us. The beauty of the show has been its gradual increase and not really going straight to a top, number one show. Where can you go from there? There’s something to be said about the writers, the production team, and the actors that put forth their time and their effort, in order to create a character and see that develop, rather than have it become so quick because it hasn’t been an overnight, quick thing for this show. 

MediaBlvd> Have you given any thought to what you want to do beyond Bones, once the series comes to an end?  Do you want to stay in TV, or do you have your eye on film?

David> I focus primarily on what’s happening in the moment. But, I always like to plant seeds, whether that’s developing a show myself to take to a network. That’s always been something I’d like to do. It’s exciting to develop a story and an idea for a show. Obviously, film work would be fantastic. It’s just finding time. It’s developing into a leading man, like I’m doing right now.