Why Max Thieriot Didn’t Return for ‘SEAL Team’ Final Season — And Who Series Boss Wanted Back
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SEAL Team said goodbye to a few characters over its seven-season run, which ended on Paramount+ with the October 6 series finale, but the one that still hurts the most is Clay Spenser, with Max Thieriot moving over to Fire Country.
His death — as he was trying to help a vet at Ray (Neil Brown Jr.) and Naima’s (Parisa Fakhri) center — reverberated with the rest of Bravo throughout the rest of the sixth season as well as all of the seventh. But we could have still seen him again, in a flashback or some other way. Executive producer Spencer Hudnut, however, tells TV Insider he didn’t even try to get Thieriot back for the final episodes.
“Truthfully, it was so difficult just keeping Max to finish his work Season 6 that I was not going to even try to open that can of worms,” he explains.
However, he notes, “Clay exists. Clay hangs over the season for sure. I mean, he’s obviously inspiring Sonny [A.J. Buckley] in a lot of ways and he’s haunting Ray on some levels. And I do think we pay honor to Clay in the finale, through Stella [Alona Tal] and through Sonny’s actions. I think even in death, Clay really helped Sonny become the best version of himself. And so, to me, that was enough.”
Hudnut hadn’t realized it would be the final season until well into breaking it; he says he found out around the ninth script. If the producers had known earlier, “I’m sure we would’ve gone down different rabbit holes and brought people back from the past,” he says. Among the possibilities? Vic (Lucca De Oliveira), who was briefly with Bravo in Season 3 until the others stripped him of his trident when he was willing to let Ray take the fall for an error he made.
“When our guys are so struggling with what comes after operating, a guy whose trident they took could maybe have an impact on them,” Hudnut explains. “But 10 episodes is such a small amount of time. I mean, I’m getting a lot of messages on social media about just introducing a new character, and people are upset about that. So to bring in people from the past when every moment needs to be so valuable…”
Would you have liked to see Clay one last time on SEAL Team? If so, how? Let us know in the comments section below.
SEAL Team, Complete Series, Streaming Now, Paramount+
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O
Yes, I would have loved to have Clay Spencer brought back for the Finale in flashbacks and memories. He was an central character and fan favorite
16 1
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C
That’s a no brainer Clay should have 💯% been brought back season 7 seemed so thrown together and so poorly done I was really disappointed with it.
14
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G
I agree with you, Jen. Clay was an awesome character that should've been brought back. I am overall disappointed with season 7. Slow/bad start, sloppy writing, character development was disjointed and erratic, and the finale seemed super rushed to wrap up all the issues/plots/characters in short scenes. Love, love the show over all, gonna miss it and want it back, but a 7/10 on season 7 from me.
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P
Done a flashback episode of a mission with clay. Full metal also would've been a great one to return maybe a mission also with him so much could've been done. Just bring the show back
10
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B
I think this show needed more episodes in each season 14 or 15. There was still alot of story to tell for ALL of them. If DB was tired of playing Master Chief, he could have easily been written off with more episodes and a few more seasons. I hated that Clay died....BUT, i think it really made the story so much better overall. I was very mad when he died, but its what makes a show great is that sometimes you have to kill off a great character so that it continues to tell a story afterwards. Clearly it had impacted Sonny so much and a great stoeyline of Decker getting knocked out and CID investigating. I was scared he was going to eventually get caught and thrown in prison....that seems to be what writers tend to do. Great show. Great characters all around
5
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G
Definitely should've brought Clay back for a flashback, maybe even a dream sequence kinda like Jason had. The excuse that Hudnut didn't know this was the final season for some of his bad decisions is lame. There should've been at least one scene of Sonny visiting Clay's grave on his own, maybe telling him about the team & that he's keeping the promise he made to look after Stella & Brian. Bringing in a new main character & spending all that time on him was a stupid decision by Hudnut. The scenes with Drew's sister & the reporter were a total waste of time, time that should've been spent on Sonny & Ray.
6 1
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B
Would have been cool to see clay again. Definitely need to keep this series going tho!!
5 1
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A
I would love to see him in his black undies again. Man, what a body and an adorable face to go with it. Best of both worlds. 😁😁😁😁
4
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B
I think the ending was perfection. I was crying happy tears. Not many shows touch me like Seal Team did. Bravo for Bravo team 1. Show will be missed , but ending was perfect
1
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R
He was full of himself know it all. Glad he wasn’t in the final because he tried to make seal team all about him but the time he gets a sniff he leaves to a show that blows! Good riddance Clay!
1
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G
One of the best shows on TV. This last series seemed very rushed and thrown together. Maybe we get another couple of series to finish it off properly
1
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P
Just continue the show..it was a damned good one compared to other rubbish shows like NCIS
1
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G
I don’t get the enduring interest in NCIS. I never cared for Mark Harmon as an actor so the original NCIS never caught on with me and I didn’t watch the spin-offs except for Hawaii as I like shows shot on location there. Seal Team was gripping most every season and I too would have liked to see more episodes
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B
He needed to go. Was too full of himself.
4 3
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R
Maybe Clay should have come back, but Max has been skyrocketing his career.
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C
Yes Clay should have come back in some kind of way....was sad to see him go.
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