“David Boreanaz Reflects on Saying Goodbye to ‘SEAL Team’ After 7 Seasons and Teases the Possibility of a ‘Bones’ Revival: ‘I Can See It, Man!'”
In 1993, David Boreanaz landed a guest spot on an episode of the Fox sitcom “Married… With Children,” playing Christina Applegate’s unfaithful motorcycle-riding boyfriend. Though that role didn’t translate into more episodes, Boreanaz, who began his career primarily as a supporting actor, got his first real taste of working in front of a camera — and the thrill was enough to keep him working as a struggling actor in Los Angeles.
A few years later, Boreanaz was walking his dog when a manager scouted him and auditioned for the role of vampire P.I. Angel on the WB supernatural drama “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” With the show already in production, producers were desperate for a charismatic, sarcastic leading man to face off against Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy Summers.
“I owe a lot to Sarah for her patience, and obviously our chemistry was a big part of the success of that show from the beginning. It was very much like ‘Romeo and Juliet,'” Boreanaz told Variety of the enduring success of “Buffy,” which led to his self-titled spinoff, “Angel.” “There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful that I was able to walk my dog, which allowed me to meet my manager, which pushed me to a meeting that was really a path and the beginning of something.”
For the better part of the past three decades, Boreanaz has been a TV staple. After “Buffy” and “Angel,” which arguably launched a generation of vampire shows, he played FBI Agent Seeley Booth opposite Emily Deschanel’s forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan, for 12 seasons on “Bones,” which remains Fox’s longest-running drama series. He then went on to star and executive produce the gritty military drama “SEAL Team,” which concludes its impressive seven-season run on Paramount+ on Oct. 6 (after first premiering on CBS). While taking a break from a visit to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. — part of his ambassadorial work with the United States Organizations — Boreanaz discusses the end of “SEAL Team,” the key to his longevity in Hollywood — and why he would “easily consider” reprising his role in a “Bones” revival.
Much of Master Chief Jason Hayes’ storyline in the final season of “SEAL Team” focused on the internal turmoil he felt when he first killed someone and the moral implications of his work as a Navy SEAL. In the finale, he decided to go back to Afghanistan to see the family of the first man he killed in the war. How did you and the rest of the creative team come to that conclusion for your character? I always come back to the fact that the authenticity of the show lies in the motivations of the characters to make the story move. For “SEAL Team” in particular, it was important for us to be able to find that balance between the missions, the changes, and the complexities of those missions—but most importantly, the balance of coming home and what that means. He’s been off balance for a lot of seasons; some seasons, he thought he had it nailed. This season in particular, he feels like he can find happiness, and over time, the trauma and the nightmares make it more clear to him that he’s just causing more problems and more trouble, and he feels guilty about it.
So he actually goes back to Afghanistan and visits the family of the first person he killed, I guess, to alleviate that pain, but also to open up a place for him to understand that this is no longer a pattern for him. Ultimately, for me, it was about finding that spiral moment for the character. Jason has been chasing his tail for seven seasons, and it felt right for him to find that spiral event that could bring him in and bring him out in a more productive, healthier way than he did. I think it was a beautiful touch to bring that into the character.
Did you ever doubt that Jason would survive the final season? Did you or the other producers ever toy with the idea of killing him off?
We toyed with that idea in a season where he had more command in the HAVOC [control] room and tried to get a feel for what that would be like. Personally, for me, putting the character in that situation, I didn’t feel right. I thought it would be more awkward and a little more fish out of water. I mean, Master Chief isn’t really a fish out of water, but in that situation it would be boring. The real nature of this guy is, he’s going to break some rules.
