SEAL Team has wrapped up its sixth season, leaving us wondering where Bravo goes from here, as the entire team—and other SEALs—have spoken out as Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) faces injunctions after going public with his TBI status.
But we have more pressing questions for a potential Season 7. (The series has yet to be renewed by Paramount+, and no word on the series was announced in February.) Is the episode where Clay dies the last time we see Max Thieriot? What changed after he died? We reached out to showrunner Spencer Hudnut for answers to those questions and more.
Could we see Max again in a flashback in the future?
Spencer Hudnut: We’ve done things like that in the past. I just think part of the decision was that finishing Max’s job this season was a struggle. The idea of being able to plan ahead and figure that out seems daunting, but we’re never going to say no to anything. Clay’s legacy will live on in the show. And yes, if there’s an opportunity for us to do something like that, I’m all for it because he’s such a big part of the show.
How much of a part will Stella (Alona Tal) be in Season 7?
I think she’ll definitely be in it. When you make that decision, if Clay and Stella are driving off into the sunset, you [would] lose both of those characters. One of the remarkable things about the military is how families and communities come together and show that, show how people step up in times of tragedy. One of the things that we’ve lost in this country is that sense of community. Highlighting that and showing these people coming together for each other, which is what makes the great military family so special, is something we definitely want to do. And I think there are things we want to do with Ben [Joey Pollari] that will obviously tie into her. So yeah, my hope is that we’ll see a lot of her.
Is there anything new you can share about the future of SEAL Team since we last spoke?
No. When I talked about Season 7, it was all hope. It was just in my head. So I hope people get some good news soon. At the end of the day, if we can create more SEAL Team, that’s great. I really feel like the fans who have come with us to Paramount+ deserve the opportunity to see these characters through their journey. We at the show really want to be able to give that to them. Yeah, this is not the intended end of the show. If at the end of the day, the brotherhood, the men standing up for Jason and showing the love and bond that they share, is the last thing we do, I’ll be fine with that, but there’s still a lot of stories to tell and we hope that we can do that.
What else can you say about your plans for Season 7?
We’re still early in the process. Because of the uncertainty around Max, we started the season with Clay losing his leg. Unfortunately, we killed Clay in the eighth episode. There’s a dark cloud over the season in a lot of ways. Obviously there’s always going to be adversity, there’s always going to be trauma. This is a show about war and the impact it has on the men and women who fight and their families. But I think as we move forward, we want to show hope. These guys have been through a lot. We want to highlight their triumphs. It’s been a very difficult season, not only from a production standpoint but also from an audience standpoint. And I’m hoping that maybe Season 7 can be a little bit lighter, have a little bit more hope, and see our characters continue to push themselves to better places.
What can you say about your plans for Clay and Bravo that you had to change because you had to write him out?
Going back, from the beginning of the show, it felt like — I talk about this often with Chris Chulack because from his days in the ER — for us, Clay was almost like the Noah Wyle character [Dr. John Carter]. It was from his perspective when he joined the Bravo team. It felt like he was always going to have a big role in the story and whatever happened with the Bravo team. Yeah, that had a big impact on my roadmap of where I thought this was going to go. But in a way, as a writer, you like those challenges. You like to back yourself into a corner and then get out of it.
Jason will always be the heartbeat of the show. That will never change. And so I think there are a lot of great stories to tell. Like I keep saying, it’s unfortunate that we were in that situation with Max, but we’re so proud of what he’s doing [on Fire Country], and we’re so excited about what we can do now at SEAL Team. So h
