David Boreanaz on the ‘Emotional Cliffhanger’ Finale for SEAL Team’s Season 4 and Its Move to Paramount+
The men of Bravo have been through a lot in Season 4 of SEAL Team, which will air its finale tonight on CBS, but no one more than team leader Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz). He was put on trial and charged with unfairly killing an unarmed citizen during the team’s op in Jordan, and it’s greatly affected how he looks at his world.
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“In the past, we’ve seen Jason struggling mentally, with TBIs (traumatic brain injuries), the loss of people in his life, and now it’s like, ‘OK, how do I open up those doors to heal them rather than just forget about them? How do I shed light on it in order to become a better person?'” Boreanaz tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “For self-care, he’s not going to go to a spa; for self-care, he’s more of a guy that’s going to be more investigating into those issues.”
And in the season finale, SEAL Team opens the door a crack into just how Jason will do that, and he won’t be alone. He will be joined by other members of Bravo to examine the baggage they’ve brought back from war.
“What’s exciting about that is these men that suffer from these side effects of casualties of war will pretty much dive into these issues with different types of treatments, whether that’s psychedelic treatments, extensive therapy or a retreat that allows them to embrace those dark moments,” Boreanaz continued. “So, that’s going to be interesting to see how that unfolds.”
When Seal Team returns for its fifth season in the fall to examine those issues and continue the war on terror, it will air its first four episodes on CBS, but then the rest of the season will stream on Paramount+. Boreanaz isn’t sure what that means as far as changes to the show, but it’s something he’s eager to explore.
“I’ve worked in network television for almost 25 years now,” he says. “I started off in the cult [Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel] environment and then went over to Bones, which was mainstream. It was just this fantastic journey, but I’m excited about the world of streaming. That’s the way a lot of people watch shows. So, I’m open to that and I think we have to pivot.”
When we start the finale tonight, there are issues between Clay (Max Thieriot) and Sonny (AJ Buckley), and Jason and Ray (Neil Brown Jr.). What’s happening?
These guys have gone through so much. At the beginning of the season, they’d gone through so many adversities and conflicts. So, we spent a lot of the season studying the emotional impact of the environment and situation that all of these characters had been through, especially with Jason going through the trial and being exonerated and emotionally torn up as well as physically.
He was in Bravo, out of Bravo, back to Bravo. There’s so much that he went through–this ring of fire–and there are some questions, for Jason to say, “Where does the team stand? How damaged are they? How can we fully bring them back firing on all cylinders?
What’s great about this show is that it allows these characters to go to those places and find out how they are different when they go through it. They do have to pivot and adjust. These are the best of the best and they know how to do that, but they’re always going to be taking their stuff with them, their mental health and how that has affected their relationships with everyone. Where they are now, I think they’re a little bit better than where they were when it started, especially in the middle of the season.
Jason is trying to change and be there for his men “inside the wire” as much as “outside.” That seems to have stemmed from that visit that he made to Theo, a former team member, who made a comment about that.
Yeah. His journey this season has been that: I’m going back to see an ex-brother, who I was leading but didn’t know much about, and didn’t know that he was dealing with the mental aspect of it, and how he would deal with that regardless of substance abuse while he was operating. These things were eye-opening for Jason. He realized that you’ve got to be more aware of what’s going on around you, which will make you a better leader.
Jason has always been ignoring override, but I think going back and seeing his brother and realizing [it can’t be] just put it in your phone and forget about it, sweep it under the carpet. I think he’s starting now to come to terms with it. He’ll become a better leader in the end, more of a Jedi. He’s going through that passage.
