A terrible thing happened in the midseason finale of Fox's Bones -- so how will it affect the victim and his significant other going forward?

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SPOILERS through the latest episode of Bones AHEAD:

The bomb that went off at a crime scene in Thursday night's second hour of Bones had unfortunate effects. Aubrey (John Boyd) received some critical injuries and while he's on the mend now, the same can not be said for Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) -- who is now paralyzed.

Bones co-showrunner John Collier spoke with TVLine after the episode and discussed why they went in this direction with Hodgins, and how it affects his relationship with Angela (Michaela Conlin).

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"This isn't just about Hodgins. This is about Hodgins and Angela as a couple. We really want to test their relationship, and we figured this would be a good way to do it," Collier explained. "It's going to get really difficult for them. We believe in them as a couple, but we really want to push them... There's a good chance he will never walk again."

While there is still a chance that Hodgins will return to healthy condition some day, it likely won't be anytime soon.

"It's in the cards, but it's going to be tough going," Collier warned.

Meanwhile, Bones season 11 still does not have a scheduled return date for Fox. The procedural was curiously missing from Fox's schedule announcement for spring 2016. Collier does not know when they are returning, though he did hazard a guess.

"This happens every year with us. And even if they give us a date, all sorts of unforeseen factors come up," he admitted. "No date in TV, except for the fall premieres, is a real date. My guess is it will be sometime in March or April."

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