Departures from long-running ensemble shows are almost never about a single cause, and the explanation behind this one is a familiar collision of calendars and ambition. An actor who headlines a separate series cannot spend the same number of days on set as a supporting player, and military dramas in particular demand long, physically punishing shoots. Studios accommodate that for a while and then reach a point where the arithmetic stops working. From the outside the timing looked abrupt, but the conditions had been building for seasons. What matters for viewers is the story, and the way a series handles an exit is usually more revealing than the exit itself. A character written out with care leaves a gap that becomes part of the drama, while a rushed departure tends to be remembered as a weakness. In this case the split appears to have been planned, which at least gives the writers room to make the absence meaningful. Fans of the show will now be watching how the remaining episodes handle the absence, since a gap is easier to write than to fill.
Clay Spenser Has a Tough Arc in 'SEAL Team' Season 6
At the end ofSEAL Team's fifth season, Clay was nearly killed on a mission after being hailed on by RPGs. This all came afterhe made the tough decision to retire from the Bravo Team following this "last mission" to be closer to his family. The season ended with fans wondering if Thieriot would be leaving the show in between seasons, with no closure for Clay's five-season arc. This is acommon trope among network procedurals, and something that could've easily recurred here onSEAL Team. Thankfully, that isn't how things went down, but Clay's Season 6 arc was just as tragic to watch unfold.
The new season begins with Clay losing his leg and having to retire from active duty. Throughout Season 6, Clay struggles to get his life back together after the last mission and works on his relationship with his wife Stella (Alona Tal) and his son Ben. In fact, by the end of his time onSEAL Team, he and Stella even plan to leave their old life behind and start anew. Along with that,Clay spends his final moments helping a vet named Ben (Joey Pollari) in the episode "Aces and Eights," where he stops the distressed vet from killing himselfand vandalizing a recruitment center.
ThoughClay saves Ben from killing himself, he is found holding Ben's gun by a security guard, who promptly shoots him in the chest. These are thefinal moments with Claywe see on the show, as he, like Chris Kyle (the real-life inspiration behindAmerican Sniper) before him, used his final moments to save the life of another. Ironically, Clay was once called "American Sniper" by one of Stella's friends all the way back in Season 1's "Collapse," which foreshadows this horrible tragedy.
Max Thieriot Was Doing Double Duty Between 'SEAL Team' and 'Fire Country'
DuringSEAL Team's Season 6, Thieriot was also working on another ongoing CBS/Paramount+ dramaFire Country, where he plays Bode Leone, a convict firefighter who is forced to return to his hometown (and his family). "At the time, I was fully involved withSEAL Team, so it was hard to imagine being able to go do something else, especially because this ramped up pretty quick,"Thieriot told Collider in an exclusive interview. "It became clear that it wasn’t likeSEAL Teamwas gonna be over and done with, and here’s the next thing I could do, so I really wasn’t sure."
Unfortunately, that changed somewhere down the line when bothFire CountryandSEAL Teamwere renewed for their second andseventh seasons, respectively. Given that Thieriot's character onSEAL Teamwas nearly written off after Season 5, his ultimate demise in the following season wasn't a surprise. WithFire Country's intense workload – 22 episodes a season compared toSEAL Team's 12 — it's no wonder that Thieriot opted to stick with the new series he helped co-create in the first place.
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"It really started toward the end of Season 5,"SEAL TeamshowrunnerSpencer Hudnuttold TV Insider. "There were some questions about whether Max would be back for Season 6, so the Season 5 cliffhanger [in Mali] was a bit dictated by that. And asFire Countrykept passing each development checkmark, it got clearer and clearer that there was a real possibility that we’d be losing Max at some point ... Everyone had talked about how he could do both shows, but it was very clear that that wasn’t the case."WithFire Countryshooting in Vancouver, Canada, andSEAL Teamin Los Angeles and other locations across Southern California, it just wasn't possible for Thieriot to do both.
Max Thieriot's 'SEAL Team' Co-Star Helped Inspire Him To Create 'Fire Country'
Fire Countryis Max Thieriot's show in more ways than one, and it's all thanks to hisSEAL Teamcastmates.Thieriot doesn't just star inFire Country, he's also an executive producer, co-creator, and the initial inspiration for the series. "I was driving to work one day with my buddyA.J. BuckleyfromSEAL Team, and we were sitting there going back and forth,"Thieriot told James Corden onTheLate Late Show. "... And I started telling him about [my experience growing up in a firefighting community], and he was like, 'Dude, this is a show.' I'm like, 'You think?' And he's like, 'Yeah.'" The more Thieriot explained this idea of a Northern Californian firefighting town and his experience with it, the more people thought he should pursue the project as a series.
"When I started writing it, in the beginning, I wasn’t sure what the route was gonna be," Thieriot explained to Collider. "In the beginning, my intentions were to try to create this world and pitch it, and then have them make a show, best case scenario." Thieriot co-wrote the pilot alongsideTony PhelanandJoan Rater, and would later direct the 21st episode, "Backfire." He had previously directed two episodes ofSEAL Teamduring the show's third and fourth seasons. Butin many ways,Fire Countrywas the project that Thieriot had been waiting to undertake his entire career, and it only took someone like hisSEAL Teamco-star (Buckley is also a co-producer on Thieriot's new series) to push him to make it a reality. And with Season 5 ofFire Countrycurrently going strong, it's clear to see that Thieriot's vision for the show has not only flourished, but it's become one of CBS' biggest shows.
SEAL Team
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