After seven seasons of compelling storytelling, we must say goodbye to SEAL Team.
SEAL Team reminded us of the casualties of war, not just in battle, but also by watching characters struggle to find a balance between the ugly side of their profession and the family life they so desperately crave.
SEAL Team Season 7 made that point with its final season, which saw Jason Hayes, Ray Perry, Sonny Quinn, and Lisa Perry weigh in on what comes next.
We had the opportunity to Zoom with showrunner Spencer Hudnut to get more details on SEAL Team Season 7 and its emotional surprise finale.
I know; it hurts. I can feel the viewers’ pain, and I can feel it in the cast. We’re all reaching out, everyone’s reaching out to each other, and it’s great to be back on the air after almost two years, but then it means we’re leaving, which is a lot of mixed emotions.
The issue with Drew and Omar, specifically why he chose Drew to be the badass Echo team member and how he came up with the story about Omar’s wife hooking up with another SEAL.
All the SEALs are very close, and they know a lot about each other, especially the Echo team because they were so close to that event. How did they not know about these people? How did they not know about their past?
Yeah, Drew was just on the Echo team. Like Clay was only on the Bravo team for a few episodes.
The SEALs that we worked with said maybe enough time had passed, and he wasn’t really a part of that team in a public way, so he had one deployment with them.
He was deployed, so he wasn’t even in the water with them when they died, which is possible. So if people want to focus on that, they can.
I have to ask on behalf of my readers because they’re all asking that question. So I thought, “Okay, I’ll find out.”
Yeah, no, that’s a fair question. Again, that’s the question we asked our SEALs: “Could this have happened?” For Omar, it happened in San Diego, years ago.
Another thing, with regards to the Curtis assassination, was there more intelligence that maybe didn’t make it to the screen that gave them the idea to do it? It doesn’t seem like that’s a decision that you would make lightly to eliminate a Green Beret.
No, that really came from the highest command. We alluded to it at some point that a lot of what we were doing in Thailand with China was like a public relations war that if we could just get China out of it.
And then there was a little bit of a higher-up, not DEVGRU, but even higher-up, thinking that if you have a former American war hero involved in this drug trade, building a narco-state and helping Beijing move into South America, that would make really bad headlines. So it would be better to just shut up and get him out.
Did you find that hard? I mean, it was hard for me to see people keep their feelings bottled up this season.
They’re usually very close and open with each other and share everything, but this season, everyone’s going their separate ways in silence. Why would you go that way?
I think a lot of the things they’re fighting about are new. I think Jason, in particular, I think the downtime between season six and season seven really brought that shame to the surface.
I think that’s something that I’ve talked to a number of these agents about, and when you stop and get off the crazy train, those thoughts start to come to mind. And he’s really dealing with an emotional wound that he doesn’t really know how to deal with.
Dealing with that, it’s not guilt, it’s shame. Unfortunately, the shame of what he did is something that a lot of people, a lot of our veterans, deal with when they come out.
And so I think Jason’s trying his best. He thinks that this new era of war allows him to have some balance in his life. So I don’t think he wants to reveal to Ray, especially the issues that he’s having.
And I think Ray’s having trouble with that. He had one foot out, but suddenly his escape route, Spencer House, was tainted for him. He still felt guilty about Clay. He hadn’t been as dedicated as he’d hoped. Naima had really made this place thrive.
His teammates even called him a unicorn. He was the one with the escape plan. He would have a purpose in getting out, and if he shared his doubts with them about it, if Ray, of all people, suddenly didn’t think he had a way out, then
