SEAL Team’s Jason Hayes has had an interesting run throughout the series’ seven seasons on Paramount+.
David Boreanaz plays Jason, the leader of the elite Bravo Team of Navy Seals who are tasked with some of the most dangerous military missions around the world.
SEAL Team Season 7 is currently airing on Paramount+ and will be the final season of the hit TV series.
David Boreanaz has appeared in more than 110 episodes of SEAL Team since its debut. The actor has outlasted many of his co-stars, including Michaela McManus, who plays his on-screen wife.
Although Boreanaz has been trying to stay on the action show for seven years, he admitted that he’s reached his limit as Jason Hayes in an interview with TV Insider, saying that “[he] was done” even before it was announced that SEAL Team would end with Season 7:
“The shock is the first time you kill someone. How do you deal with that? Going into the season, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the perfect way to close that cycle for this character.’
I knew it was the right way, and I knew I was done before the writers’ strike. I had expressed my desire to not do the show anymore. I was done regardless of whether they wanted to do two more seasons or one more season, I was done. So then the writers’ strike hit and six months later, it was decided.
It’s unclear how Boreanaz’s departure from SEAL Team will affect its future, but the impact of the 2023 WGA strike means the actor has been able to finish the entire show.
As for why Boreanaz was so eager to leave, the actor revealed to People that “my body just couldn’t take it anymore.” The SEAL Team actors underwent rigorous training throughout the series’ seven-year run to authentically portray their characters’ missions.
“There were no shortcuts,” Boreanaz said of the grueling production process, which required him to undergo four MRIs in four months.
What’s going on with Jason Hayes on SEAL Team?
Much like the actor who plays him, Jason Hayes has been through a lot on SEAL Team. He lost his wife, struggled with the death of team member Clay, and left and returned to lead Bravo Team.
In Season 7, Jason is dealing with Season 6’s revelation that he suffered a serious brain injury that could impact his leadership position on the team. As Boreanaz TV Insider told us, Jason is “questioning his purpose and where he belongs” this season, which is told at home with his family or while on duty.
Jason’s fate will be decided when the final SEAL Team episode airs on October 6, but it’s unclear whether the Bravo Team leader will be around to see the end.
When asked about the possibility of returning for a spin-off series as Jason, Boreanaz hinted that “he might not be able to do that,” raising the question of whether his character will get his happy ending.
