Bones EP Jonathan Collier teases season finale

Bones fans really won’t want to miss Thursday’s season finale.

“It will be a cliffhanger,” co-showrunner and executive producer Jonathan Collier promises EW. “A key character is threatened.”

The final hour of season 11, ominously titled “The Nightmare Within the Nightmare,” sees the return of the show’s latest serial killer — a mastermind who reflects the dark side of what Brennan (Emily Deschanel) can do. “We really wanted to spook, and we also wanted to go to a villain who kind of sees the world like Brennan does,” co-showrunner Michael Peterson previously told EW. Peterson compares the hour to Hitchcock’s Spellbound, warning, “We’re going to go darker, scarier.”

And as Bones sets up its final season, the end of Thursday’s finale will leave devoted viewers wanting more. Says Collier: “We’re promising everyone an incredibly surprising twist that will really reward our long-term fans.”

Bones airs Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.