CBS-turned-Paramount+ military drama SEAL Team is coming to an end tomorrow, and David Boreanaz spoke to PopCulture.com about his time on the show. The actor plays Special Warfare Master Chief Jason Hayes, commander of Navy SEAL Team Bravo, and has been through a lot of ups and downs throughout the show, especially in the final season amid Jason’s son’s hospitalization and his TBI being made public.
Ahead of the series’ conclusion, Boreanaz looked back on his time on SEAL Team, revealing that the most rewarding part of being on the show was “actually hearing the stories of the men and women in uniform.” He continued, “Going around and meeting them, and being and portraying a character of that magnitude and being with real SEALs or Marines who have been there and hearing their stories. You feel like you’re having a bad day, and then you go to SEAL Team, and you’re doing your scenes, and you’re in character, and you’re trying to get through a situation or a moment in the scene or a physical thing, and these guys remind you, ‘Oh, this is actually how it happened and how it happened.’ You hear that story, they’re like, ‘Let’s do it the right way.’
“Because what they did was instrumental in a life and death situation and also saved us and we don’t even know it when we go home and sit in Starbucks or wake up in a cozy room or whatever it is that you might be struggling with,” Boreanaz explained. “This show has allowed people to reach out for help. If you’re down and you’re depressed, you’re suffering from anxiety or your mental ability to cope with life, they’ve watched the show and they’ve played us, and they’ve leaned on us for those moments. And so, thank you for allowing me to find the strength to get help or to reach out. So we’re very proud of that.”
Additionally, fans have been able to see some touching, poignant, and honest stories about life in the military. Even though it’s just a show, it still focuses on the physical and mental toll of being in the military. When asked if there was anything he wanted fans to take away from SEAL Team, Boreanaz said, “The most important thing is the dedication from where you are. The will to succeed is really all about consistency, doing things that you know, you don’t want to do every morning. Right? Sometimes you want to get out of bed. You want to take an ice bath or go to the gym, eat right. Whatever’s going on in society, whatever you’re facing, you have to face it. And this show showed that at a very high level, in a very complicated way, being special operators and being in life-or-death situations and sacrificing your country. But you can take those threads and apply them to your own life, and you can see that you can fly high if you do that.” SEAL Team will end after seven seasons, and despite switching platforms midway through, the series has proven to be a success. And when the first show started, David Boreanaz had no idea what to expect. “You go into a project and you just commit to the present and the purpose of that project,” Boreanaz shares. “You understand the characters. You feel the characters. You grow with the characters, you find the ups and downs of the characters, and the writers give you wings to fly and take the characters to a certain level. You find the chemistry with your cast and crew, how to shoot scenes, how to direct certain episodes, how to produce, where the budget is, whether it’s higher or lower. So it was just an incredible experience. But I personally don’t think about going into a show and saying, ‘Hey. It’s going to be a year, four years, six years, 10 years. I don’t think of it that way. I think you have to really be in the moment. You can’t look back. You can’t look forward to tomorrow because tomorrow’s not guaranteed. You have to be really present in the moment.”
Even though Boreanaz has been working in the industry for nearly 30 years, it’s clear that SEAL Team holds a special place in his heart and will forever. It also holds a special place in the hearts of many fans. It’s unclear how the show will end, but fans will want to tune in tomorrow, Sunday, October 6 on Paramount+ when the series finale of SEAL Team premieres.
