What makes SEAL Team different from other military shows?

What makes SEAL Team different from other military shows?

Jason Hayes (David Borenaz), the central character of CBS’s new drama SEAL Team, has devoted his life to his Tier One Navy SEALs—his marriage is falling apart, as is his relationship with his child—but his tough mentality is starting to show cracks.

“We wanted to explore the impact of this work on the soldiers rather than the work itself,” executive producer Ed Redlich tells EW. “None of us ever wanted to do a mission-of-the-week show about catching bad guys. [Borenaz’s] character has been doing this for 13 years, and when we meet him, he’s starting to have a new sensibility to the job. That’s the starting point.”

Instead, they’ll follow Hayes’ team—completed by Ray (Neil Brown Jr.), Sonny (AJ Buckley), and eventually Clay Spenser (Max Thierot), along with CIA analyst Mandy Ellis (Jessica Paré)—from the Middle East to the Philippines and back. “We know that what the SEALs do in real life, in many cases, involves really familiar targets in Afghanistan and the Middle East,” Redlich continues, “but we’re trying to keep it broad. We’re not just chasing down the weekly Arab terrorists or the weekly Islamic terrorists. The SEALs operate all over the place. [And] what’s interesting about it is how these guys do their jobs in different environments. Not only do we get to write about these amazing people, but you get to get on a boat and you get to get helicoptered off the boat.”

Throughout the season, viewers will never leave the team’s perspective. There will be no footage of home while the action is overseas—and no sneak peeks of the bad guys before the SEALs arrive. “The truth of life is, first of all, you’re away from home for a lot of the time, and when you come back, a lot of your life is disrupted because you’ve been away for so long,” says executive producer Benjamin Cavell. “We wanted to stay true to that.” He adds, “And one of the realities for these guys is that when they walk through those doors [on missions], they really don’t know what’s on the other side.”