List of Bones Characters - Lab Assistants - Wendell Bray

Wendell Bray

Portrayed by Michael Grant Terry

Wendell (Season 4–) is one of Dr. Brennan's interns whom she described as her "brightest scholarship student". He first appears in "The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond". During the episode he misinterprets Dr. Brennan's question about dating older women (it dealt with the episode's case) as a come-on, and he asks Angela about it. He says he is not sure what to do, as he needs the job as intern/graduate assistant because he owes people money. Angela assumes this means he owes money to the mob, but when she discovers him with a cigarette (which he uses as a method of concentrating after witnessing his father smoking while thinking, although he does not smoke himself as his father died of lung cancer) it is revealed Wendell needs the money to pay back his old working-class neighborhood, who donated money in order for him to go to college. In that episode, he revealed that he boxed golden gloves in his teens. His second appearance is in "The Bone That Blew".

During his third appearance on the show ("The Fire in the Ice"), it is revealed Wendell is now a member of Booth's amateur hockey team, "The Fed Cases". Later in the episode, while on a "field trip" with Hodgins to get evidence from a suspect's apartment, he inadvertently mentions he once spent a night "in juvie". He also confirms Hodgins' assessment- when acting agent Peyton Perotta referred to the squints as her people- that they were Booth's people. In "The Girl in the Mask", as Dr. Brennan is reviewing her personnel files, she comments "Wendell has the most potential"; and Booth describes him as being "Sort of normal", which Dr. Brennan acknowledges he likes.

In the fourth season finale, Wendell was re-imagined as the bouncer at Booth and Brennan's night club.

In the season 5 episode "The Bond in the Boot", everyone in Brennan's team but Wendell comes to know that Wendell can no longer work as an intern as his scholarship had run out of money due to the recession. This fact is kept from him as Cam tries to figure out another scholarship for him until Brennan breaks the news to him assuming he was aware of it. Wendell manages to work impressively on the case and by the time he was bidding everyone farewell, Camille told him due to an anonymous donation, he did not lose his scholarship after all. A visibly affected Wendell thanks everyone, suspecting them of the good deed and leaves when he found it difficult to maintain composure. Then Camille tells Brennan, Hodgins and Angela that the scholarship party received enough donations to fund the scholarship for 3 people. As everyone exchanges knowing smiles, and leaves, Brennan glances at Angela's appreciative smile indicating that she was proud that Brennan finally used her newly earned wealth for her request of funding Wendell's scholarship. It can be assumed that Camille and Hodgins along with Brennan all made the anonymous donations for Wendell.

In the same season episode "The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken", Wendell and the sex-deprived Angela, who has been celibate for almost six months, on the advice of Dr. Sweets, end up sleeping together. However, Angela breaks it off with him later in the episode, "The Death of the Queen Bee", after Wendell learns that Angela mistakenly thought she might have been pregnant with his child. Angela realized that had she been pregnant, Wendell would have "done his duty" while Hodgins' offer was to stay with her because of love. The breakup between the two was mutual and amicable and they remained friends after the ordeal.

In the sixth season episode "The Mastodon in the Room", the fellowship program of the interns was closed down on Dr. Brennan's departure from the Jeffersonian Institute. Wendell got a job working at a mechanic shop to save money for tuition. When Brennan came back and tried looking for an assistant, she came to know all had branched out and left. She came down to the mechanic shop to rehire Wendell who agreed to come back if the job was not a one-off. At Brennan's querying how much would he need for his "Tuition" since all her money "was not much use in Maluku", he smiles back and later is found to be working in the episode's case, indicating Brennan might have agreed to his terms. He has appeared the most times of Dr. Brennan's interns.

During Season 6, Wendell grows closer to Hodgins and Angela who are expecting their first child solidifying that there is no residual regret or angst left from Angela and Wendell's failed relationship. Wendell shows several times that he is happy for the two, and it is insinuated the three have become very close friends over the duration of Season 6.

In season 7, in the "The Crack in the Code", at the end of the episode, Booth mentions that he is going to recruit Wendell in the restoration of Booth and Brennan's new house, as Wendell needs the money.

In season 8, the episode "The Patriot in Purgatory," it is revealed that Wendell's uncle was a fireman in New York City, and he died on September 11. Wendell spent 9/11 and the next few days with his aunt, and it's a very sensitive topic with him.