Get out your gloves and start examining the particulates, Fox's Thursday night workhorse Bones is making plans for a spin-off. The thinking man's CSI has built up a pretty solid following over the last six seasons and now runs regularly on basic cable in syndication, making it a prime candidate to serve as a launching pad for a new series. So, who's it gonna be? The intuitive psychological prodigy Dr. Lance Sweets? The recently-pregnant Dr. Hodgins and Angela? The incarcerated, cannibalistic Dr. Zach Addy? Turns out none of the above.
According to Deadline, the potential spin-off would follow a new character named Walter Sherman and is set to debut on December 6th. A vocal, loud and aggressive former military policeman, the character reportedly has a long backstory with Agent Booth, having both fought for their countries, at least until Sherman suffered some sort of brain injury. Like Dr. Brennan, he's very skeptical of information and has a knack for seeing things others have missed.
Far from being an authentic Bones creation, Walter Sherman is based off of a series of books written by Richard Greener entitled The Locator. After Sherman is introduced, if creator Hart Hanson can find the right actor, the subsequent series will then be heavily-influenced by the original novels.
I can't say this is the worst idea in the world. Bones has proven itself to be more than worth watching, mostly because of its in-depth, fairly realistic science, and quite frankly, I would like to see Hart Hanson and company take a shot at a whole new round of characters. Obviously, all of this hinges on finding a late twenties, early thirties actor competent with both genius insights and socially-retarded retorts. If only Peter Falk were born in the early 80s…
