SEAL Team was one of the many shows ending or canceled in 2024, with the military drama officially saying goodbye in October after seven seasons. Even though much of Season 7 was already written before it got canceled, the show still managed to wrap up stories for Bravo and even give David Boreanaz’s Jason a much-deserved ending. However, the actor revealed some scrapped ideas for his character's fate, and I’m very glad they went with the one that aired.
It's no secret that Jason Hayes went through quite a lot during the show’s run, especially in the final season. However, after his TB was made public, his son’s accident, and his PTSD got in the way of how he operated, he finally received a happy ending. He walked his daughter down the aisle, he was no longer worried about the blood on his hands, and his son made a recovery.
That ending almost didn't happen, though, as Boreanaz told TV Insider that while there wasn’t an ending that was seriously considered or he wanted for Jason, the thought of killing him off did cross his mind:
No, I didn’t. I mean, I obviously, at one point, had thought, well, maybe this guy should die. And then we don’t want to see his death. We’ve seen him get injured many times. We’ve seen him get shot, which was pretty drastic to see, pretty dramatic.
Considering Jason’s kids already lost their mom, it would have been harsh to kill him off, especially since his daughter was preparing for her wedding. Of course, no one could have predicted how his final mission would go. However, since I am still mourning the loss of Clay, killing off another beloved main character would be pretty diabolical for the writers. Also, Jason just straight-up needed a happy ending.
That’s not the only ending that was briefly considered for Jason though. Fans will remember that he was considering leaving the field to be Head of Warfighter Health at DEVGRU, which Ray wound up taking instead. But there were other options for Jason that did not include death, Bravo, or Warfighter Health, as the Bones actor said:
And then we played with the idea of like, Hey, let’s bring him out of the field and stick him in the area with Blackburn [Judd Lormand] and Davis [Toni Trucks] and try to call the plays from the sideline, and that didn’t work out. And for me, I never thought of him as that type of character anyway. He’s too rambunctious, curious, and a bit of a wildfire kind of a guy to sit back and call plays. He has to be in it. So that didn’t work out.
As much as it would be interesting to see him calling the shots from the sidelines, that is certainly not on-brand for Jason. At the very least, he would try it out for a bit and then realize that his heart is on the field. Let's all remember that he hid a head injury because he wanted to be in Bravo. So, being away from the chaos would not work for him.
Luckily, the series ended with Jason still on Bravo, still leading the team and with his head in the right place. It was perhaps the best ending for him, and I couldn’t be more glad that they stuck with it. Fans can decide for themselves if the ending is the best one by streaming all seven seasons with a Paramount+ subscription.
