The True, Heartbreaking Meaning Behind David Boreanaz’s ‘SEAL Team’ Helmet

Having run for six seasons, first on CBS and later on Paramount+, SEAL Team is one of those shows that defies the odds and continues on no matter how hard things get. Centered on Bravo Team, the series follows a group of elite U.S. Navy SEALs led by Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes, played by veteran television actor David Boreanaz, who you would likely recognize from Angel and Bones. The series is set to end with a final, seventh season airing in August 2024. But before we say goodbye, let’s go back to basics. Have you noticed something unique about Hayes’ helmet on the show?

Unlike many of the props worn by the cast members of SEAL Team, the helmet that sits on Boreanaz’s head is a legitimate military issue meant to honor the real-life heroes whom he represents on screen. Having played some pretty impactful television characters throughout his career, Boreanaz has made it clear that his work on SEAL Team is his most personal. “[Jason Hayes] is really important to me,” the actor told Parade in 2019. “Playing him, I feel more in tune as I’ve ever been with a character.” But there’s more to the helmet’s history than its authenticity.

David Boreanaz Wears an Actual SEAL Helmet to Honor Real-Life Heroes

It turns out that the helmet that Hayes wears on SEAL Team actually belongs to a real-life SEAL who goes by the pen name Mark Owen. Owen, an executive producer on the series, was the one who pitched the idea to the network in the first place. Additionally, Owen fought overseas, particularly in the Middle East where he was a part of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. In fact, after his experience in the military, he wrote No Easy Day, a memoir published in 2012 about his 14-year career as a Navy SEAL and specifically his part in bin Laden’s death.

“I wear his helmet. I could wear a lighter [prop] helmet, but I decided to wear his actual helmet to honor him,” Boreanaz explained about wearing Owen’s helmet. “And I will do that throughout the whole series of its run.” Given that SEAL Team has been on since 2017, David Boreanaz’s commitment to the show and honoring the vets he’s representing is commendable.

Though SEAL Team wasn’t the first series about Navy SEALs that made its rounds on television in the late 2010s (the first was History Channel’s Six), it’s by far been the most successful. Not only does the show help to share the experiences and stories of these men and women on mission, but it also highlights the emotional and deeply personal conflicts that soldiers face upon coming home.

‘SEAL Team’ Aims To Be Authentic to Military Veterans

Speaking of, one of the things that sets SEAL Team apart from its contemporaries in military fiction is its commitment to authenticity. Aside from David Boreanaz wearing an actual SEAL’s helmet on camera, the cast and crew contain a large number of U.S. military veterans who all do their part.In an interview with Military.com, actor Tyler Grey, who plays Trent Sawyer on the show, explained that that’s always been true of the show. “I’ve been working on SEAL Team since the pilot. At the very beginning, it started with someone from the military with prior service who wanted to make something about Special Operations. The start was with a veteran and not the other way around. That’s very rare.”

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Grey is right; it is indeed rare that a film or television series like SEAL Team would be made up largely of veterans, not to mention the two former Navy SEALs (Mark Semos and Kenny Sheard) who are in the writers’ room. But aside from attempting to accurately portray the horrors of combat, the show also does well to share what it’s like to try and live with the aftermath. “It’s really difficult to go from combat to coming home and dealing with family, and then going back to the combat,” Mark Owen explained in a CBS special feature, emphasizing that one of the things he loves most about the series is the inner turmoil it presents its characters with. “It takes a lot to sacrifice so much, and that’s really why I think this show does so well.”

Part of the real-world implications explored on SEAL Team is what happens when veterans come home and struggle with acclimating again to “normal life.” In the show’s sixth season, longtime cast member Clay Spenser (Max Thieriot, who went on to co-create and star in CBS’s Fire Country) was killed while dissuading another vet from taking his own life. Similar to the story of Chris Kyle (also a former Navy SEAL) as told in American Sniper, this episode (“Aces and Eights”), which was co-written by former seal Kenny Sheard, portrays struggles with issues of mental health. With veteran suicide something of an epidemic in the United States, bringing this tough subject to light on SEAL Team is just as important as ever.

SEAL Team is available to watch on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+