The series is very loosely based on the Dr. Temperance Brennan character created in a series of novels by real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who is herself a producer on the show.

Special Agent Seeley Booth David Boreanaz as Special Agent Seeley Booth Enlarge David Boreanaz as Special Agent Seeley Booth Portrayed by David Boreanaz Seeley Booth is a former Army sniper with the Rangers who is currently an agent with the FBI. He frequently consults with Dr. Brennan and her team, acting as a liaison between the FBI and the Jeffersonian institute. When it comes to solving crime, Booth has a very different approach than Dr. Brennan and her team, preferring a more human, interpersonal and intuitive set of methods. While he finds the information Dr. Brennan and her team uncover invaluable, he often finds their means overly convoluted, and restrictive, and adds his intuition and knowledge of people on top of it — something that clashes with Dr. Brennan’s hard, objective, analytical approach which is mindful of its own limits. Booth clearly doesn’t fit socially with the collection of “geeks” (whom he and his FBI colleagues refer to as “squints”) that make up Dr. Brennan’s team. Booth fills out the stereotype of the “all American boy” — now all grown up — very well. He is world-wise, socially at ease with people, and apparently at ease with women (a contrast to the humorous social bumbling sometimes exhibited by some of Dr. Brennan’s team). While Booth tries to keep personal and professional life strictly separate, aspects of his personal life leak through. He is a religious man by nature and a practicing Catholic (interestingly, actor David Boreanaz is a Catholic in real life), seeking through the FBI to atone for the lives he took as a sniper by placing other killers behind bars. He was romantically entangled with a blonde lawyer named Tessa. He also has a four-year old son named Parker, from a previous relationship with Rebecca (unmarried), who seems quite hostile toward Booth for unknown reasons. He drinks three glasses of milk a day, probably with his exercise regimen. He has also mentioned having a brother named Jared. He used to have a gambling problem but has since quit. There is a somewhat confused (and confusing) chemistry between Booth and Brennan. Good colleagues who can respect — if not always understand — each other, there is at least the beginning of a romantic tension within their relationship. Booth once arrested Brennan for shooting a murderer who was trying to set her on fire. Even though she was not convicted, the fact that she was once arrested for a felony means that the FBI won’t allow her a permit to carry a gun. Lately, Booth had been doing a sort of guy bonding thing with Zach with Booth occasionally giving him pointers. Booth did draw the line at sex tips, however. He is shown to be jealous of Dr. Temperance’s boyfriend (see Two Bodies In The Lab and Woman In Limbo).

Angela Montenegro Michaela Conlin as Angela Montenegro Enlarge Michaela Conlin as Angela Montenegro Portrayed by Michaela Conlin Angela Montenegro is not one of the “geeks”. An artist, free spirit and “wild-child” at heart, she is the team’s specialist in forensic facial reconstruction. She is the center of life and passion in the team, although not quite of normality and stability. Although artistic in temperament, she is obviously quite intelligent, developing, maintaining, and improving the lab’s 3-dimensional graphics and computer simulation system. While she may not exhibit the same social traits as her colleagues, she is well suited intellectually to the team. She is open, friendly, and caring, seeming to have taken on a nurturing role in the team: she has befriended and constantly tries to draw out Dr. Brennan (referring to her as ‘Sweetie’), and she acts as advisor and “social coach” to Zach. Her rapport with Jack seems to be that of a colleague, the two of them being the closest to socially normal within the team. Her appreciation for the well-scrubbed appearance of Seeley Booth is obvious for anyone within sight or earshot of her; at times Little is known of her family, although it was revealed that she is the daughter of Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. Apart from this, and the parade of faces and anecdotes from her love-life, not much is known of her background. It is revealed that at one point, she got married in a fire-water-influenced ceremony in Fiji. She was unsure whether the marriage “stuck” (was legal) and has no knowledge of where her husband is now. Her personality according to her coworkers is “quirky,” a reality that she seems to be aware of herself. She once told Dr. Brennan: “I don’t know how to talk to crazy people unless I’m dating them” (Episode 1-16). She is also the most socially sophisticated of the team, especially on matters pertaining to love and romance. Rarely an episode goes by when her sexual expertise does not come up in some conversation with the team. She also frequently shows attraction to a man who turns out to be guilty of the crime they are investigating.

Zach Addy Eric Millegan as Zach Addy Enlarge Eric Millegan as Zach Addy Portrayed by Eric Millegan Zach Addy is Dr. Brennan’s brilliant young assistant. Coming from a large Michigan family, he is a former child prodigy, a genius with an I.Q. well above 163 and a supposed photographic memory. He has started two doctorates, one in Forensic Antropology and one in Engineering, but hasn’t finished either one of them. Despite his brilliance, he is unsure of himself, and is unable to forcefully express his opinion to Dr. Brennan, although he has come up with crucial insights vital to some of the team’s cases. His specialty, like Dr. Brennan, is in the analysis of remains, especially identifying cause of death and weapons from marks remaining on skeletal remains. It is usually his task to remove the flesh from the bones, a process known as debriding. Because of his tremendous intellect, he has a strong broad-based knowledge of many of the specialties in the Jeffersonian lab. Zach is as close to the stereotypical geek as anyone else on the team. Although well-meaning, helpful, and friendly, when a situation calls for social interaction or intuition, he is often lost. Further evidence of his social ineptitude can be seen in the frequent, on-screen coaching in social matter he gets from Jack and Angela. Zach’s only friend seems to be Jack, with whom it was once thought he was roommates. In fact, he rents from and also carpools with Jack, since he can’t drive. Episodes towards the end of the first season of Bones reveal that Zach’s colleagues, especially Dr. Goodman, feel he has become too comfortable as Dr. Brennan’s assistant and is therefore not completing any of his Doctorates to avoid having to grow into a new position. Goodman and Hodgins have conspired to make Zach less comfortable in his position to motivate him to complete his studies and assume a role above that of an assistant.