In the Season 10 premiere of Bones, long-standing team member Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley) is beaten to death in a parking garage by an unknown assailant - a twist that many fans didn't see coming. But what many audience members tuning in that night didn't know was that there was a real-life reason behind Daley's abrupt departure from the show.
Introduced early in season 3, Sweets was an FBI psychologist assigned to monitor Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, post-Buffy) and Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) in the wake of concerns about their partnership. Despite his brilliance, Sweets' clumsy attempts to understand the dynamic between Booth and Brennan provided a lot of comic levity to the show, quickly endearing him to legions of fans. Over the ensuing 7 seasons, Sweets grew from a psychologist focused on writing a paper about his two subjects to a trustworthy crew member, helping Booth and Bones solve countless cases. Arguably, Sweets' initial role as comic relief and audience surrogate made his sudden murder one of the most shockingly unexpected TV deaths.
In reality, the reason that Sweets was written off Bones is less salacious. John Francis Daley, the actor cast as Sweets, was offered the opportunity to direct National Lampoon's Vacation and the schedule conflicted with his filming for Bones. Daley ultimately chose the directing job as he was interested in moving into writing and directing instead of continuing his work in front of the camera.
However, despite Daley's decision to leave, there don't appear to be any hard feelings from the cast or crew. In an interview with Bones executive producer Stephen Nathan soon after the season 10 premiere, Nathan explains, "It was a complicated and very difficult decision for us.... There were a lot of tears shed on the set. We adore John. He’s an important and valued member of the family. It was really painful to lose him. Hopefully, that pain will translate into something good for the show moving forward."
Away from Bones, John Francis Daley's contributions to the world of writing and directing for the big screen have also borne fruit. Since leaving Bones, Daley has received writing credits on Spider-Man: Homecoming, Game Night, and, following the success of directing the latter, he was the upcoming DCEU Flashpoint movie, The Flash. In this case, despite the abrupt departure, both Bones and Daley's career seem to have a happy ending.
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