David Boreanaz

Bones star David Boreanaz is threatening to exercise his power as a producer by skipping an episode later this fall that centers on a major phobia of his. “Are you kidding me?” David exclaimed, when I told him that series creator Hart Hanson is planning for his character, Seeley Booth, and Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) to investigate a death at a chicken farm. “This is like some kind of bad joke,” says the actor, who has a lifelong fear of birds. “Hart can play that game, but I’m going to kill him…. I just won’t show up. I hate birds. They freak me out. It’s more roosters that I’m fearful of, but I’m not crazy about chickens, either.”

Hanson, who plans to shoot at an actual chicken farm with or without David, admits to letting his devilish side get the best of him. “Between Emily, [a passionate animal-rights activist] not wanting to exploit animals and David having a phobia of chickens, it should be an interesting shoot,” he says. “You gotta have a little fun.” The episode opens with the discovery of a body that looks suspiciously like a half-chicken/half-man creature. “It is bizarre,” Hanson says. “I’m not sure by the end of this episode if anyone’s going to eat chicken again.”

Emily, who volunteers for an organization called Farm Sanctuary, has been a vegan for years. She hopes her meat-eating costar will join her in the episode—and perhaps learn a lesson. “If David’s going to eat chickens, he ought to know where they come from,” she says. “If we can make the public aware of atrocities, these chickens can be ambassadors for other chickens living horrible lives in factory farms.”