Where were the bones photographed? Explaining each major shooting location

Not to worry about it: Fox’s “Bones” uses more than a little movie magic to bring the Washington, D.C., atmosphere to life. The long-running procedural series about geeky forensic anthropologist Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), FBI Special Agent Seely Booth (David Boreanaz), and the love they form while looking at rotting human remains is a perfect show for DC. It has everything you’d expect from a story set in the US capital, from federal agency shenanigans to the death of a state senator to… An episode that includes a very memorable (and very bad) sniper kill.

Despite all the signs of Washington, D.C. sprinkled throughout the show, “Bones” was actually filmed on the opposite coast of the North American continent. From the FBI headquarters building to the Jeffersonian Institution (an obvious stand-in for the Smithsonian), the team behind “Bones” has recreated artificial versions of East Coast locations more than 2,000 miles away from the city that serve as inspiration. They have a realistic home. .

The vast majority of “Bones” was filmed in Los Angeles, which may be why the series doesn’t feature as much bad weather as you might expect in a story set on the East Coast. Most of DC’s version of the show was recreated in Fox’s iconic Century City precinct, according to sources like Entertainment Weekly.

“Since Bones is set in Washington, D.C., but filmed in Los Angeles, one of our main challenges is avoiding seeing palm trees or any other signs of our presence in Southern California,” the “Bones” production team told EW in Trivia. A packed interview in honor of the 100th episode of the show. In the same article, they also noted that the studio sets were so real that they became home to some non-fictional creatures, including a hungry squirrel named Mr. Sweets (After fan-favorite John Francis Daley, of course) and “The cutest, friendliest cats in the Fox District.”

Even the easily recognizable outdoor shots of “Bones” were mostly taken in the greater Los Angeles area, where the Natural History Museum often fills the Jeffersonian Institute According to TV Insider. According to the site’s reports, the University of Southern California’s Wallis Annenberg Building, the current home of the California Science Center, is also located in parts of The Jefferson campus is full of bones. The two buildings are located next to each other in downtown Los Angeles, and you can easily catch a glimpse of them if you visit BMO Stadium (another nearby) for a concert or sporting event.

Two major parts of “Bones” were made on location, with the cast and crew traveling to the UK for the Season 4 premiere. The two-hour episode “The Yanks in the UK” sees Bones giving a lecture in Oxford and Booth locking horns with Scotland Yard investigators. But their escape becomes dangerous when an American heiress is found dead in the Thames. The episode is best remembered for introducing the romantic rivals of Booth and Brennan, and for the classic “The Butler Did It” conclusion to Part One.

However, it is not remembered for its dreary English weather. “We probably (had) 15 minutes of rain the whole time.” Deschanel told IGN After filming the episode. “The weather was wonderful and in London in the summer when the weather is good (…) there is nothing better.” The actor also commented on the city’s friendly pub culture, bright summer nights, and crowds of local fans who gathered to watch the scenes being filmed. “It’s very unusual, and believe me, I realized how lucky we were when we were there,” Deschanel said of the opportunity to briefly move the show from the Fox set to another continent.

“Bones” is currently streaming on Hulu.