David Boreanaz

David Boreanaz and “Bones” creator Hart Hanson report that the series has just received its season 4 renewal for 20 episodes – with the popular Fox Network show that also stars Emily Deschanel looking likely to location abroad next season.

“Some of the contenders are Spain, Monaco, Italy – it just depends on how it gets put together,” Hanson says.

First, however, there’s season 3 to complete. “Bones” heads back into its post-WGA-strike production Tuesday (3/25) to shoot six more episodes for the current season – and will return to the air with fresh episodes April 14.

This is Boreanaz’ first season as one of the series’ producers, though, “I feel like I’ve been doing that for some time. This is the first season I’ve been credited. It’s great to step into those shoes, be more involved on the creative side with specific scenes, character, the actualities of locations…”

Last year, he’d thought it might give him a little more leeway in scheduling himself. That’s not how it’s turned out. “The more responsibilities you have, the more you’re grinding it out and working it. I’m actually more busy now. I’m not scheduling myself out of any episodes. This has enabled me to do more things and expanded my horizons, meet other people, make more impact.”

Boreanaz also tells us that he and Emily continue to work on their characters with famed acting coach Ivana Chubbuck on weekends. “We explore the relationship between these two. The more we work on it, the more we come up with what I call ‘movie moments’ as opposed to TV moments. I think you have to continuously work like that, whether it’s the first episode, the fifteenth or the 68th.”