What will happen in SEAL TEAM’s final mission?
Speaking to USA Today, SEAL TEAM actor David Boreanaz, who plays Bravo Team leader Jason Hayes, reflected on the show before its final season and shared why he’s happy it’s over.
SEAL TEAM, which debuted in 2017, didn’t have a huge budget.
“You look at some of these seasons and you’re like, ‘How…we could have done that on that budget?'” Boreanaz said. “I would put SEAL TEAM up there with any big action movie.”
Although the show’s ending was “bittersweet,” Boreanaz supported the series’ cancellation after the SAG-AFTRA strike slowed production. Part of the reason for this is that he’s in his 50s and the role was physically taxing.
“I take really good care of myself, but at some point your body just doesn’t move the way it used to,” he said.
“My body was injured and sore; I had four MRIs in four months,” he said.
In Season 7, Hayes found himself in a brutal fistfight with a terrorist.
“We wanted it to be brutal,” he said. “Your hips and shoulders hurt. You wear ankle braces and that’s just part of the game.”
He previously told Parade, “For me, the character is done, I’m done with the performance, I’m done with the performance whether you want to continue or not.”
While Hayes’ death on the show is unlikely, Boreanaz and the show’s creators have taken it into consideration.
“What I’m excited about is ending the show completely,” Boreanaz said. “Because that’s what happens every time you get out of a Blackhawk helicopter on a mission.”
In Season 7, “Bravo Team is initially pushed aside… by Navy high-ranking officials for failing to get help for real-world issues like traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. But Hayes and his SEAL TEAM—including Ray Perry (Neil Brown Jr.) and Sonny Quinn (A.J. Buckley)—are dropped into a final mission that involves returning to Afghanistan.”
To toast the final scene, Boreanaz gifted the cast and crew bottles of champagne.
“Being able to pop the cork and spray champagne like I just won the World Series made it one of the most satisfying endings for me,” he said. “I have a funny video of us all spraying each other. It was a relief to know that we accomplished what we set out to do.”
Boreanaz is excited to move on to the next project after the final season.
“Now I see the fruits of SEAL TEAM’s labor starting to come to fruition, whether it’s a new series, a movie, or a stage play,” he said. “For me, it’s really closing one series and starting another.”
In 2021, episode 3.15 of SEAL TEAM was nominated for a Movieguide® Faith & Freedom Award for Television and Streaming and received a Teddy Bear® Award.
A portion of Movieguide®’s review of the episode reads: The CBS-TV SEAL TEAM season three episode “Rules of Engagement” is a dramatic episode with both personal and international significance. The episode opens with Jason Hayes, the leader of Bravo Team, still suffering from PTSD. He has a nightmare one night. Jason’s girlfriend Natalie comforts him, but he doesn’t want to discuss the details. Jason and Bravo Team are ordered to Niger to protect a critical dam and several American engineers from an impending Islamic terrorist attack. The attack is led by a Russian spy. Before they leave, several members of the team go through their own personal trials.
“Rules of Engagement” is an episode SEAL TEAM is a dramatic, thrilling, and patriotic movie. It celebrates the service and sacrifice of American soldiers in the service of their country and making the world a safer place. It denounces the chaos and evil that evil groups like Radical Islamic Terrorists, Russia, and Communist China spread abroad. “Rules of Engagement” contains brief strong language and many scenes of action-packed violence during the battle at the dam in Niger. Therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children with this SEAL TEAM movie.
