Bones executive producer Michael Peterson makes no bones about it: The show's next major serial killer may give you a good scare.

As the series returns for the second half of Season 11, he warns that this killer, who makes himself known in the coming episodes, is a little like Norman Bates and slightly inspired by a classic episode of another Fox show — The X-Files.

Below, Peterson opens up ahead of the show's Thursday return about the new killer as well as other matters that are weighing heavily on the gang at the Jeffersonian — like Hodgins' struggle to come to terms with his new life in a wheelchair and what it feels like to be heading into the show's final season.

MASHABLE: The news that Bones was renewed for a final season came out back in January. How happy were you that you didn't have to use this last batch of episode to wrap up the whole show?

MICHAEL PETERSON: We were absolutely thrilled. We went in and talked to Fox and they said, "What are your thoughts?" And we got to tell them what we have planned for Season 12. They said, "Let's give the fans the finale the deserve." So it was a very nice meeting, everything you could ask for. It's pretty exciting we don't just have to scramble. I watched too many shows where they have had to do that. I think we're going to do something great.

At the end, though, you're going to be, like, four short of 250 episodes. Someone pointed that out to me on Twitter. Can't we get four more?

You know, if fans started a petition, I got no problem with that. It's only 54 short of 300, too! I mean, I think we can get any of these milestones — but I try not to get greedy. I try really hard, but I I love it here.

Image: Patrick McElhenney/FOX

What changed about the final episodes when you found out you weren't going to have to wrap everything up?

That is an excellent question. I guess the truth of it is we were looking toward our finale, and there was a question of whether we were going to get to end on a cliffhanger. So we do get to do the cliffhanger we wanted, rather than do a two parter — a cliffhanger and then a resolution — [which] would have felt very hustled together.

When John [Collier] and myself took over [as showrunners] last year, David Boreanaz was very good about saying, "Guys, go back and watch the series from the very beginning. Look at the magic that was started then and see what from that we can grab." And we did; we went back and watched, starting from Season 1. And we realized there were some arcs that we'd started up that we wanted to get concluded, so it was a great reminder. It led to a lot of great twists you'll see coming up.

I read that also kind of led to the Hodgins arc, too, because you wanted to recapture that anger we'd once seen in him.

Yeah, that was a big part of it. The funny thing, also — Hart [Hanson] had said he wanted to do an intern who was a "wheelchair angry guy." I said we don't have to do that as an intern; that's Hodgins. So it was fun for us just because Hart gave me my first real job here, and when he has an inkling of an idea, I take that as a very serious idea. His instinct was good, and I think we had even more fun by making it Hodgins.

Image: Patrick McElhenney/FOX

You've mentioned since revealing this storyline that you really want to play it out. You said Matthew from Downton Abbey was cured too fast — and I don't know if you watch Arrow, but they recently cured someone of paralysis in a few episodes. I appreciated that, especially since people with physical disabilities don't have a lot of representation on scripted TV. Tell me about that decision.

So I think part of it is, also, working with T.J. [Thyne]. He was our first call when we came up with this idea; h e pretty much jumped through the phone, he was so excited. But he was very much, "If we're going to do this, let's do it right." Let him go through the full journey of what Hodgins is going to go through. And so we knew we wanted to take our time.

Really, to me it's not about the physical disability. People ask and say, "Should we pray for Hodgins to get better?" And I think you just want to pray for him to find acceptance. That's the most important thing.

I'm a good church-goer, and you're not supposed to pray for a new car or a new bike — the things you want. You pray for acceptance of the journey, or the wisdom to get whatever it is you're trying to achieve. I think that's what his character has to do. He's not just hoping something will happen.

Tell me about the new killer that will be introduced in episode 13. How do they challenge the team like never before?

Before I moved over to television, I wrote and sold a couple of horror features — nothing that ever got made. But I'm a big scare guy, and I just wanted to go somewhere that was creepy and disturbing in a way we hadn't done in awhile. To me, Pelant, there's a certain sort of logic to him. The Gravedigger episodes [are] among my favorites; there was sort of a thriller aspect to them, more than horror. And with this, I just wanted to get back to a place of scaring the heck out of people.

The episode of TV that had the biggest effect on me was The X-Files episode "Home," which just absolutely terrified me. I saw it in college with three athletes as roommates, and we all went to bed scared to death of the Peacock family. We thought they were going to come in any minute, play Johnny Mathis and kill us. It was such an evocative episode. That really changed what I thought TV could be.

So this is my nod to it, with a little bit of a nod to Hitchcock.

You have this lead character who deals with bones all the time; I wanted to see the flip side of her. Think of an almost Normal Bates type, who is able to look at a body and see them as alive — it's very different than the way Brennan does it. I think that was the launching off point. I like getting the willies every once in awhile, so I figured I'd give everyone else the willies too.

Image: Patrick McElhenney/FOX

You're going to scare the crap out of us, aren't you?

That's my hope. That's always my hope. But I think the big thing for me is, I like a good roller coaster ride. That's just the way I am. So I hope everyone knows you're going to go for a ride in that episode. You're going to go for a ride the whole season. But at the end of the day, we're not going to launch you off the tracks.

Is the killer going to take us through the end of the season? Is it going to be a long play?

It's not going to be that long of a play. You always have to be aware of when the killer is fun and when they've outworn their welcome. We're going to see him a couple of times, and maybe we'll see him again. But I think it's going to be a fairly short, scary jaunt, and then we're going to do a few other things that are a little more business as usual.

But, you know, there's no such thing as business as usual on the Bones show. I edited, back-to-back, an episode having to do with a cappella and the next one we have Booth entering into the secret service. So we really get to run the gamut and it's a lot of fun that way.

Now, I have a couple of Twitter questions for you:

@TheSandraG what's coming up for Aubrey the rest of this season? — Kate Summers (@mypdxkitchen) April 11, 2016

Lots. We have relationship stuff with him and Jessica we're going to be addressing. He's big in the a cappella episode. We have an episode about a P.I. — a fixer, Ray Donovan type person — and that's a big one for Aubrey in terms of his past.

So we learn a little bit more about his father, who we learned earlier had left him at a young age. He was kind of a Bernie Madoff kind of character. We're going to learn more about that in that episode.

Another:

@TheSandraG what's coming up for Booth & Brennan as a couple & as work partners,I feel like I haven't heard much about their journey in S11B — Gemma (@DelectableDavid) April 11, 2016

Well, I think the serial killer episode is going to be a big one for them because it's going to reflect upon their time when they quit their respective jobs. That's going to be something that carries through, because they tried to have time to themselves, and I think they're going to come to realize how important it is for them to be doing their jobs. This is not something you can just walk away from. When they're not working, bad things happen.

I think there's a level of guilt and responsibly that Brennan feels that she's never opened up to herself about. She sees just how important her work is to victims out there.

I also got some question about the final batch of 12 episodes. I don't know if you've had much time to think about them. But I got some pitches for ways to bring Sweets back — that kind of thing. What's the rough plan for those now?

@TheSandraG Would they ever consider asking JFD/Sweets back for a cold case ep, told in flashback? I really miss his friendship with Booth — Stella (@ABoothsGirl) April 11, 2016

We've talked this over with Hart Hanson, who — schedule permitting — is going to be writing the actual finale. We're delighted by that.

But he and I are not the same page: To us, this is a glorious ride into the sunset. You want to see your entire posse out there. You want to see everybody that you possibly can. So we're going to be putting feelers out there.

It's usually strictly about availability, but you know I would love to have every single guest star we've ever had come back. Certainly the key ones, whether you're talking about Sweets (John Francis Daly) or Ryan O'Neal or anyone else. We want to have these people back, and they're a big part of what made the show last as long as it did.

Hart writing the finale — that's incredible news!

I think he's had an idea of how he's wanted to end it for a long long time, and he's not shared it with any of us. So that'll be a nice breakfast coming up soon, where we get to pick his ear and say, "OK, what are we going to do here?" We['ve] got an idea for the overall arc, and we really want to get an idea of what his vision is — because it's what he came up with so long ago that's carried us through.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.