Anna Daniels
As it happens, the answer may not be particularly satisfying for fans who followed Bones from its pilot episode on, though it is very much in line with why most actors are replaced on a series. So what happened to good old Dr. Goodman? Per WhatCulture.com, it seems Bones‘ creative team didn’t feel the straight-laced character was jibing with the rest of Bones‘ quirky personalities. More to the point, they found that Tamara Taylor’s less rigid Dr. Saroyan was the right mix of charm and authority to keep the Jeffersonian both on task, while still being sort of flighty.
After testing Taylor’s character over a handful of season 2 episodes, the tonal change and chemistry the character brought to the series was palpable. As such, Hanson took the chance to turn the good Dr. Goodman’s “sabbatical” into a permanent layoff. Given how instantly Tamara Taylor meshed with the rest of the Bones cast, and how well her character continued to play over the series’ lengthy run, it’s hard to argue Hanson’s logic. That’s particularly true as Dr. Saroyan also helped level the playing field in terms of Bones‘ uneven male-to-female character ratio. Still, it was tough to see an actor of Adams’ esteem essentially forced out of the equation.
Turns out, that decision was one that continued to haunt Hanson (he apparently remained fan of Adams’ work after his exit) for years after it went down. In a 2011 interview with AssignmentX.com, Hanson actually referred to Adams as “One of my favorite actors in the world.” Unfortunately, Hanson never found a way to write one of his “favorite actors in the world” back into Bones’ narrative, and Dr. Goodman remains one of TV’s most noticeable “missing” characters.
Written by: Looper
