'Bones' season 12 premiere date, spoilers: Zack is not The Puppeteer? Best saved for series' swan song?

Fox chairpersons and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman announced as early as the first quarter of 2016 that it has renewed long-running crime procedural series "Bones" for season 12, which will also serve as the show's last. While the season 11 finale of the series ended with a cliffhanger, it has supposedly set the tone for the best the show has to offer.

In the season 11 finale, Brennan's (Emily Deschanel) teen intern Zack Addy (Eric Millegan), who was introduced in season 2 and left after some misunderstandings in the agency, returned to abduct Brennan. The abduction aroused suspicions that Zack could be The Puppeteer, the serial killer Booth (David Boreanaz) has been looking for.

Speaking to TV Guide, Millegan tried to shed light on his character and addressed rumors on his new role as an accomplice and murderer. According to him, the premiere episode of "Bones" season 12 will reveal the changes his character has gone through. Nevertheless, he was quick to add that Zack is unlikely to kill someone. Zack might have escaped a psychiatric ward, but it looks like he only wants to get close to Brennan whom he has utmost respect for.

Moreover, in an interview with TV Line in July, showrunner Jonathan Collier said Brennan will be set free early in season 12. He even hinted that Booth and Brennan will have a misunderstanding because of Zack.

"They're going to have very different views – and it's not necessarily what you are expecting – of Zack's culpability and how much you can blame him, how one would judge him, and how one would forgive him," he explained.

In another interview with TV Line, Collier expressed hope that the series' creator, Hart Hanson, will take the cudgels and write the final episode of the series.

"He's been very, very, very involved in discussing the series," he told the publication. "He's the best person in history to inherit a show from because he gives you his blessing. He's handed over the show to us, but he is also very available to us."

"Bones" season 12 will premiere spring of 2017 on Fox.