Bones’ Controversial Zack Addy Twist Happened Because Of A Writers’ Strike

Though it lasted an impressive 12 seasons, the offbeat Fox procedural thriller “Bones” was never one of television’s highest-rated shows. Created by Hart Hanson, the hour-long premiered in the fall of 2005 and didn’t find its loyal fan base until it moved to Thursday nights at 8 PM during its fourth season. By this point, the chemistry between Emily Deschanel’s forensics genius Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz’s FBI agent Seeley Booth was crackling, while much of the supporting cast could be deployed in a variety of ways to keep the show from falling into a samey rut. Hanson, the writers, and the casting department had created an embarrassment of riches for “Bones,” and thus it would remain until the series concluded its run in 2017.

Getting to the point of that fourth season required a good deal of imaginative plotting that kept viewers on their toes without betraying what they liked about the series and, most importantly, its characters. Like so many long-running procedurals, the “Bones” ensemble came to feel like family for its most ardent admirers, so the last thing anyone wanted to do was pull a wild twist that turned a well-liked character into a villain just to generate some buzz.

Unless, that is, you’re coming back from a three-month-long writers’ strike, and you’ve got to wrap up a serial killer storyline tout de suite. Then you might have to find a sacrificial lamb, and you’ve got to be prepared for your fans to not like it one bit.

When “Bones” introduced the cannibalistic serial killer known as the Gormogon in season 3 (much to David Boreanaz’s chagrin), no one could’ve predicted that the fiend would be able to compromise a member of Brennan’s staff. If, however, a viewer was willing to make that leap, they would’ve never guessed that the traitor would be Bones’ ultra-bright young protégé, Zack Addy.

Portrayed by the fresh-faced Eric Millegan, Addy wound up being ideal for this heartbreaking task – though, according to Hanson, it was hardly the payoff to a master plan. As the show’s creator told TV Guide in 2008:

“Initially the plan – and things go through so many iterations — was that we would find that Zack was either the apprentice to the Gormogon, or that he was approached by the Gormogon, rebuffed the offer, and then was killed. Any number of scenarios were explored. But coming back from the strike, we only had two episodes to set things up, and this presented the maximum bang for our buck — ‘Let’s shock everyone’ – and that seems to have worked to an extent. I am delighted for our show, and for Eric Millegan, that some people are furious.”

And this is how the WGA strike of 2007 – 2008 ended Zack Addy’s brilliant young career at the Jeffersonian Institute. Though the character did get a measure of redemption later in the run, Millegan hasn’t appeared on television since bidding farewell to Addy and “Bones” in 2017.