The first footage of Bones Season 8 has been released in a new promo by Fox, and although the clips may be from the Season 7 "bonus" episodes that never aired, most if not all of them appear new!

Hey, better than nothing right? Especially during the summer doldrums ...

Only 13 episodes aired in the scheduling-challenged Bones Season 7.

Fox ordered four bonus episodes, however - installments based around open-and-shut cases and minus heavy narratives or major character details - and those are believed to be airing sometime next season.

This is our most likely explanation for the footage above.

Perhaps we'll get some answers next week when Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz attend Comic-Con. Speaking of which, follow the link for the full Comic-Con 2012 schedule!

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.