Spoilers ahead for SEAL Team Season 5 finale, “All Bravo Stations.”
Season 5 of the military drama SEAL Team dropped its intense finale on Paramount+ and it was filled with all the emotions and action that viewers are used to seeing from these stars. The episode ended on a cliffhanger, with Bravo being ambushed while on a mission in Mali, but the nature of the situation made it seem as if the episode could serve as a full-blown series finale if necessary. But is it actually ending?
The future of SEAL Team is unknown, as of now, since neither Paramount+ nor anyone else has gone public with info about renewals or cancellations. There are plenty of shows that figure out ways to make season finales work as series finales in case new seasons aren't picked up, though leaving things on a cliffhanger like SEAL Team did is a little less than idealistic for the fanbase. Star David Boreanaz doesn't have an inside tip on things, but he discussed the possibility of renewal with TV Line and said he is remaining optimistic:
Well, listen. I’m an optimistic person… [but] there’s nothing official. I do know that we’ve done great for Paramount+, and I’ll just leave it there.
It took longer for SEAL Team to get a renewal than most CBS shows did in 2021, or even just an update in that direction. The cast and fans were campaigning left and right until the point when it was finally announced that the show would be changing platforms. Since SEAL Team’s big bang of a move to Paramount+, it seems to be keeping steady, even if the streaming service isn't free with its viewership stats outside of mega-hits like 1883. Not even David Boreanaz is worried about its future, though, even with the cliffhanger of a finale, so that's as good a sign as any to keep the faith.
The final minutes of the Season 5 finale involved a montage of Stella’s baby shower, now that she's home with baby Brian, and much of Bravo’s families present. At the same time, the Bravo members were getting hit on all sides, until they were trapped under heavy fire with no way out. Bravo got some closure before spinning up, and if not for the final bit, the installment would have totally felt like a series finale. David Boreanaz reveals the meaning behind that ending, while claiming it wasn't conceived with specific finale purposes in mind.
No; I think that it was designed purely for, ‘This is what happens and could happen in a war situation,’ right? Like this is real. And this can happen. We didn’t design it in a way that said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this, and that’s the end of the series!’ I mean, if you did that, no one would know what really happened. With television, as you know, anything can happen — like, ‘Oh, guess what. That’s the end of the series.’ There are a lot of forces that dictate that, but this wasn’t designed [to be a series finale]. Spencer [Hudnut] wanted to go out the way he wanted to go out, for this specific moment. It shows again: Everything is good, and then bam.
Nothing is ever predictable on SEAL Team, and it seems like the Bravo Team members can never be happy for long. Despite their mission success in Venezuela, as well as finally reuniting with their loved ones and making amends, the team found themselves in trouble yet again. Even though "All Bravo Stations" does have the feel of a series capper, there issomething about leaving the team under fire with an unknown status of who survived and who didn’t that just doesn’t make much sense to officially conclude on. But like David Boreanaz says, anything can happen.
Hopefully we don’t have to wait long to find out the future of SEAL Team, but in the meantime, stream all five seasons in full on Paramount+! And check out all the other new and returning shows hitting the small screen with our 2022 TV premiere schedule!
