David Boreanaz had plans to leave SEAL Team after season 7 no matter what.
“Going into the season, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the perfect way to end that cycle for this character,’” Boreanaz, 55, told TV Insider on Wednesday, August 14. “I knew it was the right way, and I knew before the writers’ strike, I was done.”
“I had expressed my desire to not be on the show anymore. I was done, whether they wanted to do two more seasons, one more season, I was done,” Boreanaz recalled. “So the writers’ strike happened [at the end of 2023] and six months later, it was decided.”
Boreanaz cited a “couple” of reasons why he was ready to move on, explaining, “My body physically and mentally had found a space out of sync with the character and knew that it wasn’t going to continue. And I just felt like it was something that I was very clear about and it just made sense and it just happened naturally.”
SEAL Team, which debuted on CBS in 2017, follows an elite unit of the United States Navy SEALs, also known as Bravo Team, as they carry out dangerous missions around the world. After five seasons, SEAL Team moved to Paramount+. Boreanaz has played Jason since SEAL Team debuted, alongside co-stars Neil Brown Jr., A.J. Buckley, Toni Trucks, and more.
“It really wasn’t a difficult decision to make. “It’s just the natural progression of being an agent, what he’s faced with, how he goes through certain things,” Boreanaz continued on Wednesday. “I love the fact that it’s fun to play him, but the one thing that’s hard about playing him is the level of TBI, the PTS, the nightmares. That was very difficult for me and I’m just glad that I got through it, I did it. And now I can let go.”
While Boreanaz didn’t rule out the possibility of a SEAL Team revival, he hinted that Jason’s return wouldn’t be significant.
“I don’t want to spoil the ending, so he might not make it,” he shared after previously hinting at Jason’s potential on-screen death. “I think the idea of a movie was always on the table because you can shoot these stories at any time, when you leave Black Hawk, it could be two years ago, it doesn’t really matter. … I guess there’s always a possibility.”
