David Boreanaz Gets Candid About SEAL Team Continuing For Three More Seasons After Being Cut From CBS: ‘That Was Too Heavy For Them’
For the first time since the late ’90s, proven TV leading man David Boreanaz isn’t set up to take over a new show in the wake of SEAL Team’s seventh and final season.
The actor, who has explained how taking the gig as Jason Hayes for CBS actually saved the show, was ready to leave the grueling role behind at the end of Season 7 even before news broke that it would end in the 2024 TV schedule. When he recently spoke with CinemaBlend, he reflected candidly about how the intense military series survived another three seasons on Paramount+ after being cut from CBS.
The first four seasons of SEAL Team aired on network television, with David Boreanaz moving over to CBS after twelve seasons of Bones on Fox.
A renewal for Season 5 wasn’t guaranteed, to the point that the star himself was posting on social media with a message for CBS as well as encouraging words for fans back in 2021. The show was of course renewed… but only to move over to streaming for fans with a Paramount+ subscription, as it will not return full-time to CBS.
At the time, David Boreanaz explained why he was excited to move to streaming to get darker with the storytelling and drop the occasional F-bomb, and those F-bombs did fly over the three seasons on Paramount+, including in his very last line as Jason Hayes.
When I spoke with Boreanaz in support of SEAL Team’s seventh season release on DVD, I noted that the streaming finale stuck the landing a lot better than the Season 4 finale on CBS would have as the end. He responded:
Oh, that’s for sure. The studio was so honorable towards us and worked with us, and I love everybody on the network… You get to a point where it’s eight years and seven seasons on a show like this. For me, it was time to call it, in my own personal journey. You know, you can go on as you’d like, but not with this character. So I think we ended it the way we should have [on Paramount+].
Was the Season 7 finale truly the last time that fans will ever see the SEAL Team characters on the small screen? It’s hard to rule much out in the era of reboots and revivals, but David Boreanaz seems decidedly done and happy with how Jason’s story ended.
He’s been luckier than many actors over the years of his career, and not just because of nearly three decades of lead TV roles. Many series are unceremoniously canceled after a cliffhanger; SEAL Team could build up to its finale and stick the landing.
If you want to revisit the full run of SEAL Team or even try it for the first time, all seven seasons are currently available streaming on Paramount+. If you’re in the market for some new TV options now that Bravo Team’s last mission concluded, check out our 2025 TV schedule for what’s on the way.
Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She’s not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend’s resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite many TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).
