Burned out and boxed in. Here's how a 12-year stint on "Bones" almost made Emily Deschanel leave acting behind.
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00:00Burned out and boxed in, here's how a 12-year stint on Bones almost made
00:05Emily Deschanel leave acting behind. When it premiered in 2005, Bones quickly became
00:10a standout of Fox's small screen lineup and went on to find incredible success in
00:14the years that followed. The series racked up 12 seasons and nearly 250 episodes,
00:19as well as several awards and nominations, including two primetime Emmy nominations
00:23before it concluded in 2017. Much of this prosperity came down to the strength of its
00:27lead actor, Emily Deschanel, who expertly portrayed the main character, Temperance
00:32Bones Brennan. In fact, she's one of only four Bones actors to appear in every episode.
00:40With such a long-running and successful show under her belt, she probably had multiple offers
00:44for other roles after the show wrapped. Instead, she all but disappeared from the entertainment
00:49world for several years. The final Bones season ended in early 2017 and was Deschanel's sole
00:54credit that year, with a cameo appearance as herself on The Simpsons being her only one for
00:592018. It wasn't until 2019 that she made a tentative return to acting with a single-season
01:05arc in Animal Kingdom. So why did she step away from Hollywood for so long? It turns out that
01:10working on Bones for 12 years straight took its toll on her. As she explained to Parade,
01:15she simply wanted some time for herself and her family, saying,
01:18I needed time away. I took almost two years off from working as an actor.
01:22I wanted that time with my kids. Honestly, I was burned out."
01:26Her life certainly changed during her hectic shooting schedule on Bones.
01:29She married writer David Hornsby in 2010, and the couple welcomed two sons during the show's run,
01:35the first in 2011 and the second in 2015. In her interview with Parade, Deschanel added that when
01:41she inevitably did return to work, she did so a bit more selectively than before, saying,
01:45I don't want it to take me away from my family too much, and I don't want to do something too
01:49similar to what Bones was or Temperance Brennan as a character. I want to stretch myself in
01:54different ways." Her roles since her hiatus have indeed been slimmer but no less impactful.
01:59After wrapping up her season of Animal Kingdom, 2021 picked up with a single appearance on season
02:04three of The Rookie. The following year saw Deschanel portray a side character in the drama
02:09continue, as well as what's probably her largest post-Bones role yet, the lead character in the
02:13Netflix thriller series Devil in Ohio. She played a psychiatrist who temporarily takes in a teenager
02:19who's just escaped from a cult, and true to what she told Parade, those types of career choices
02:24appear to be carefully selected based on her schedule and interests. Talking about Devil in
02:29Ohio, she told the publication, I've certainly loved me some cult documentaries. I certainly
02:34watched a lot of those, and I've done that kind of research that I don't consider research. I'm
02:38fascinated by it. In that respect, I had already been doing research for a long time before I got
02:43this part. So what drew you to this role? Um, well, I've always had a fascination with cults,
02:49and so this deals with... Okay. She followed that up with the indie film Big Boys and is set to star
02:55in an upcoming sci-fi drama called Re-Entry. Evidently, Deschanel hasn't disappeared entirely
03:01from the Hollywood scene. It stands to reason she'll continue to pop up in more film and TV
03:05projects in the future, cementing her legacy beyond the ever-iconic Bones.