‘SEAL Team’ Season 5 Examines the Effects of Years of Combat on Jason Hayes

Kate Hahn October 3, 2021, 9:00 am

David Boreanaz as Jason Hayes in SEAL Team — Ron Jaffe/CBS

Stamp this file top secret: The military drama opens with a black-ops assignment “in the most fortified country in the world,” says SEAL Team exec producer Spencer Hudnut. “If we’re even discovered, it will set off an international incident.”

This is the first of many bold missions, but folded into Season 5 is something more personal. “We examine what years of combat in the War on Terror has done to [soldiers],” he says. For Bravo 1, Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz), the result has been debilitating headaches. “Jason keeps an eye on this situation to make sure he’s able to operate,” adds Hudnut.

'SEAL Team' Season 5 Trailer: Bravo's Back & the World's on Fire (VIDEO)

He needs all his wits in Episode 4, SEAL Team’s last on CBS before moving to Paramount+. The unit is in Burkina Faso after a large-scale terrorist attack, and a cliffhanger aims to lure viewers to the streamer.

Says Hudnut of the switch, “It’s the same show. The language might be a little saltier, as it probably would be when people are shooting at you.”

SEAL Team, Season 5 Premiere, Sunday, October 10, 10/9c, CBS

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2021 Returning Favorites issue. For more inside scoop on the new fall TV season, pick up the issue, on newsstands now.