David Boreanaz had plans to leave SEAL Team after season 7 regardless of what happened.
“Going into the season, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the perfect way to end that cycle for this character,'” Boreanaz, 55, told TV Insider on Wednesday, August 14. “I knew it was the right way, and I knew I was done before the writers’ strike.”
“I had expressed my desire to not be on the show anymore. I was done regardless of whether they wanted to do two more seasons, one more season, I was done,” Boreanaz recalled. “So then the writers’ strike happened [at the end of 2023] and six months later, the decision was made.”
Boreanaz cited a “couple” of reasons why he was ready to move on, explaining, “My body physically and mentally found a space in sync with the character and knew that it wasn’t going to continue. And I just felt like it was something that I was very clear about and it just made sense and it just happened naturally.”
SEAL Team, which debuted on CBS in 2017, follows an elite unit of US Navy SEALs, also known as Bravo Team, as they carry out dangerous missions around the world. After five seasons, SEAL Team moved to Paramount+. Boreanaz has played Jason since SEAL Team debuted, alongside co-stars Neil Brown Jr., A.J. Buckley, Toni Trucks, and many others.
“It wasn’t really a hard decision to make. It was just a natural progression into being a special operations agent, what he’s dealing with, how he goes through certain things,” Boreanaz continued on Wednesday. “I love the fact that it’s fun to play him, but one thing that’s hard about playing him is the depth of the TBI, the PTS, the nightmares. That was very difficult for me and I’m just glad I got through it, I did it. And now I can let go.”
