Emily Deschanel Reveals What to Expect From Her New Bones Podcast with Carla Gallo

Bones ran for 12 years on FOX, firmly planting its leads, Emily Deschanel as Dr. Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz as FBI agent Seely Booth, in TV history.

When a show touches that many hearts and minds, it's never too soon to recall it fondly, and now, six years after its final episode aired on March 28, 2017, Deschanel and Carla Gallo (Daisy Wick) are set to launch a podcast titled, appropriately, Boneheads with Emily Deschanel and Carla Gallo (A Bones Rewatch Podcast).

I had the pleasure of listening to the first episode, and before the SAG-AFTRA strike, I had a chance to talk about it with Deschanel.

My vote is in — Boneheads with Emily Deschanel and Carla Gallo is a must for any Bones fan and anyone who likes to hear behind-the-scenes goodies. The hosts are also close friends, and listening to their playful banter feels like you're sitting right beside them.

Shows rarely last as long as Bones, and through this podcast, Deschanel hopes to examine what it meant for her as an actor and to her life and what it meant for the fans who still get excited even at the hint of a Bones revival.

It seems like all roads for Deschanel, for now, lead back to Bones, and stepping back in time 18 years to relive it again, she hopes to gain a new perspective on its influence.

Deschanel was 28 when she began Bones, and she was single. By the time the show ended, she was 40, married, and had two children. She notes, "My whole life changed in the course of the show in so many ways," including financial security.

But as the character who will likely define her for the duration of her career, Temperance Brennan holds a special place in her heart.

"I love playing a character who was a strong woman, incredibly intelligent, scientist, unapologetic. And then all her interesting quirks, struggling with social interactions. I loved playing a character exploring that."

She's also been surprised to learn by revisiting the character that she's a lot more like Brennan than she realized. "I always looked at the differences between us rather than the similarities," she said.

But having a co-host like Gallo, who isn't afraid to be entirely honest with her friend, has made way for a new examination of Deschanel's similarities with Brennan instead of only recognizing the differences. Now, she says, "She is so much like me, and I'm so much like her."

There are differences, of course, and Deschanel is so proud of the show's impact on fans and how much it meant to them. "Either they are someone who went into sciences because of the show, and they were a girl when they watched it.

"Or they appreciated having a character that was on the spectrum of autism. They love that representation in a character that people loved. Or people who went through really hard times, and it got them through it."

She's heard experiences taken away watching it from so many people that she couldn't help but consider taking a deep dive into how a single show and her part in it could touch so many, herself included.

At the time, she "had blinders on," which isn't uncommon during any job. Hindsight is invaluable, and Deschanel is ready to dig in.

"This is my chance to look back and watch episodes. Some of which I've not even seen before, and have that kind of perspective from having the distance of time and just having a more objective perspective on it. So I'm loving that."

The framework of the podcast is casual and fun — like two friends enjoying a cup of coffee or two and chatting about old times. "That's what we love in podcasts when you just feel like you're sitting with old friends, and you're just sitting with them and listening and laughing together. That's what we want people to experience.

"So it's not just like a rewatch where we go over what happened in an episode. Yes, we do that, but we also laugh and go on tangents about all kinds of random things that are sparked by a mention of something in the episode that we're watching."

Gallo, who shockingly only appeared in 33 episodes as the divisive Daisy Wick, holds nothing back, and listening to them compare their seemingly copious notes taken during their respective rewatches is pure entertainment. They both took notes about Brennan's "weird walk" in the Bones premiere.

"And not only that, but everyone who passed by us watching the show noticed the weird walk that I have," she says of a premiere episode moment in which Deschanel and Gallo share that others coming in and out of the room during their rewatch couldn't help but call it out.

She laughs, "We take notes on body parts, walking, yeah, boobs. We're going to talk about the episodes. But we're going to also talk about, yeah, I have a weird walk, my lacking martial arts skills, all of that. I'll take copious notes, but they aren't necessarily on anything very important. But they're things that entertain us."

Deschanel hopes long-time fans, those ready to watch Bones online with them for the first time, and everyone in between finds something enjoyable about the experience."

"We do a quick recap, and we discuss, in general, what happens. We discuss some of the plot points. But really, we're there to talk about things like, 'Why did I take that skull with me from Guatemala? That's so weird.'"

It's funny how that quick realization is a counterpoint to the show as a whole.

"She wasn't as meticulous as she became later on. We learn she's touching the bones without gloves in the pilot. There are all kinds of things that we weren't as meticulous with. We're here to laugh, to look back and laugh about it and entertain ourselves, and hopefully others while rewatching the show."

Familiarity with the material and each other doesn't mean that Deschanel and Gallo weren't nervous going into their first recording, but by the time the first episode was finished, they felt good. "We felt like we had accomplished something really big."

There was much more to accomplish with editing and honing in on what they wanted to share with the public. "I mean, hey, we love to congratulate ourselves on any little thing," she laughs.

"After two episodes, again, we are so thrilled we got through it. Then once we did a few more — we've done several by now — it's a little bit more of an old hat. But no, we felt like we'd climbed a mountain, run a marathon.

"It was a long time coming. I'll say that because we've been talking about it for a very long time before we started recording."

The accomplishment is all the more significant to them for the time they spent determining their angle for the podcast. As it turns out, it takes work to come off sounding so natural, and it was important that for all they discussed, they never covered what they'd talk about on air to ensure it wasn't "stale and rigid."

Deschanel has admitted that she sometimes hate-watches herself in her projects, something she shares with many other actors who don't always find pleasure in seeing themselves on screen. I wondered if listening to herself be herself would be more difficult.

"Yes. It was torture, again, at first. Now I've gotten used to it. I mean, I can't stand my laugh. It's horrible," she said (without a laugh), which is contrary to my experience listening to the podcast. Like Brennan, Deschanel reveals a little snort-laugh she shares with the character.

"There's a lot of blending between me and Brennan, I'm telling you — more than I realized at the time when I started. I mean, hey, there's only one thing to hate, and that's my voice. When you're watching, you're going to hate the expression, the acting choices.

"So I think it's actually simpler and easier to listen to just my voice. But I still hated it. It was torturous at first, but now I've gotten used to it because we're producers, so we have to listen to it and edit, make choices on what to edit, and all that. So we've had to listen way more than I'd ever want to," she admits.

"But yeah, and it is me. It's not a character. So I can't even pretend I made an acting choice to laugh like that. It was just what happened." And just like these 19 times laughter got the best of us, I couldn't help but laugh at how she views it.

Editing is a process, and she revealed that they trimmed about 15 minutes from the premiere episode to ensure that it didn't get too unwieldy the first time out. She couldn't recall exactly what was edited and cheekily said, "Well, now we can edit it into another podcast, so I will. So I'm not going to tell you what it was."

Everything that remains, she finds supremely enjoyable, including "little riffs that we talk about that are really funny." Gallo's riffs are hilarious and crack up Deschanel.

"It makes me laugh so much, and I just love it. So I hate cutting that out. But we had to cut some things I thought were genuinely funny, but we didn't need it. And we want to keep the episodes flowing kind of tight and crisp."

If they want the first to be impressive as possible, she hopes that as the podcast continues, they'll "let a little more air out" later so they can relax a bit.

If Boneheads takes off, it could continue for years, and she'd be pleased with that.

The plan isn't to do one episode per week, as they'll also have guests from the show, including executive producers, pilot director Greg Yaitanes, and various actors and behind-the-scenes folks around to help amp up the excitement as they drill down into the various seasons.

They've already recorded episodes, and one of those will feature T.J. Thyne, who played Dr. Hodgins on the show.

"I want to have him back, especially for an episode in Bones Season 2 called "Aliens in a Spaceship," where we got buried alive in a car, underground," she said, which helps understand where listeners might other callbacks to talent.

Deschanel hopes you're ready to take this ride with her. "To rewatch the show with us and hang out with us as friends, laughing about the show and other things that make us laugh."

And like any good podcast worth its airtime, they'll also be taking your questions. They've already received and answered some, which will probably begin during the second or third episode.

You can submit your questions on the official Boneheads Instagram. So far, she's been impressed with fans' questions, and she can't wait to share the show with them in this more personal way.

"It feels like Bones is the show that keeps going, and people continue to appreciate it years after it first aired. We've had such incredible, loyal, dedicated fans that I love being connected with again to give them something new but related to Bones.

"They can watch the show again with fresh eyes and come along with Carla and I, as good old friends, laughing together."

The first episode of Boneheads with Emily Deschanel and Carla Gallo drops this Wednesday, July 19, everywhere you can listen to podcasts.