SEAL Team is expected to make its highly anticipated comeback to Paramount+ with season six on Sunday. With Clay Spenser’s (played by Max Thieriot) fate hanging in the balance, showrunner Spencer Hudnut opened up on the challenge of the actor’s new role after he landed a major part in the CBS drama, Fire Country.
Season five came to a jaw-dropping end in January which saw the Bravo team deployed in Mali on a life-saving mission. It all seemed to be going well until the soldiers were ambushed and attacked while on the field, which resulted in a cliffhanger finale.
With the fate of the entire team unknown, fans only got a glimpse into season six after the show released the trailer for the upcoming installation. As it was revealed Clay star Max Thieriot would star in CBS’ Fire Country, viewers had been questioned whether his character’s potential death would mark his exit from the show.
Thankfully for fans, it was confirmed that the actor will continue to be a series regular for season six. However, the showrunner faced some difficulties during production as Max continued to star in two shows at the same time.
Spencer admitted: “It was a challenge. I wouldn’t recommend breaking a season of television where you don’t know if your #2 is going to be going off making a new show. “We’d probably written the first five scripts before we knew Fire Country was officially moving forward.”
He explained: “Because we were only doing 10 episodes, it certainly made the nuts and bolts of working out his schedule a lot easier than if we were doing a full 22. “It will’ve been harder to integrate him in the way that we do have him this season. “We were fortunate that both shows were made by the same studio and under the same umbrella.”
Spencer also paid tribute to the actor and added: “I gotta give Max a lot of credit. “He made it clear to everyone that he loves playing Clay Spenser, and even though he’s shooting one show in Los Angeles and the other in Vancouver. “He made it work in a way where had Max not made it a priority, it wouldn’t have worked,” the showrunner told Cartermatt.com.
After it was announced Max would star in Fire Country, fans were certain Clay would not survive the ambush. Ahead of the deployment to Mali, Clay told the rest of the team that it would be his final mission on the Bravo Team.
This decision was made after his wife Stella Baxter (Alona Tal) had given birth to their first child together, which made the ambush even more devastating. The action-packed season six trailer shows Toni Trucks (Lisa Davis) at Stella’s doorstep to seem to share the bad news.
Clay was also alive and in a hospital bed during the trailer talking to his leader Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz). However, the conversation seemed one of doom as Clay was telling Jason his last wishes, should he die from his injuries.
