Where was Bones filmed? Each key shooting location explained

Don't worry about it: Fox's “Bones” uses more than a little movie magic to bring its Washington, D.C. setting to life. The long-running procedural series about insane forensic anthropologist Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), instinct-driven FBI special agent Celia Booth (David Boreanaz) and the love they form while looking at rotting human remains is a quintessential DC show. It has everything you'd expect from a story set in the US capital, from the shenanigans of federal agencies to the death of a state senator and an episode with a very memorable (and very unpleasant) sniper-related kill.

Despite all the Washington DC references sprinkled throughout the show, “Bones” was actually filmed on the opposite coast of the North American continent. From the FBI headquarters building to the Jefferson Institution (Smithsonian Institution, obviously), the team behind “Bones” created artificial versions of East Coast locations more than 2,000 miles away from the city that serves as their inspiration and real-life home. .

Most of “Bones” was shot in Los Angeles, so the show doesn't feature as much bad weather as you'd expect for an East Coast story. Most of the DC version of the show was re-created at Fox's famous Century City location, according to sources like Entertainment Weekly.

“Since Bones is set in Washington, D.C., but filmed in Los Angeles, one of our main challenges was to avoid seeing palm trees or other signs of being in Southern California,” the Bones production team told EW. completed interview in honor of the show's 100th episode. 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. Sweet (after John Francis Daly's doomed fan favorite, of course) and “the most beautiful and friendliest cat in Fox Square”.

Even the easily recognizable exterior shots of “Bones” were mostly shot in the greater Los Angeles area, and the Natural History Museum often fills the Jefferson Institute. according to TV Insider. The site reports that the University of Southern California's Wallis Annenberg Building, the current home of the California Science Center, was also part of the bone-filled town of Jefferson. The two buildings are located right next to each other in downtown Los Angeles and can easily be seen if you happen to be looking over BMO Stadium (another next-door neighbor) for a concert or sporting event.

One big “Bones” two-parter took place on location, with the cast and crew traveling to the UK for the season four premiere. The two-hour episode of “Yankees in the UK” sees Bones give a lecture in Oxford and Booth rubs elbows with Scotland Yard detectives. However, their escape turns serious when an American heiress is found dead in the River Thames. The episode is best remembered for introducing romantic rivals to both Booth and Brennan, as well as the classic “the butler did it” conclusion.

However, it is not remembered for the gloomy English weather. “We might have (had) 15 minutes of rain the entire time,” Deschanel told IGN after filming the episode. “It was a wonderful time and there is nothing better than London in the summer when the weather is good (..).” The actor also commented on the city's friendly pub culture, bright summer nights and the crowds of local fans who flocked to watch the scenes being shot. “It's very unusual,” Deschanel said of being able to briefly move the show from the Fox lot to another continent, “and believe me, I realized how lucky we were when we were there.”

“Bones” is currently streaming on Hulu.