Characters / SEAL Team

Main Characters

Jason

Master Chief Petty Officer Jason Hayes, Bravo 1

Played by: David Boreanaz

Bravo Team leader, who takes operational command when he and his men are out in the field.

• 10-Minute Retirement: Announces he'll be stepping down as Bravo Team leader and taking a headquarters position at the end of "Forever War." This lasts less than two episodes when Ray gets captured by a terrorist organization and he demands to be put back on the field to be part of the rescue operation.
• Badass in Distress: "Forever War" sees him wounded and separated from the rest of the team during a firefight.
• Berserk Button: Suggesting that he switch to a more plant-based diet sets him off.
• Blood Knight: He lives for the fight, to the point where the thought of peace in the Middle East terrifies him. He's positively giddy when Bravo finds evidence that might derail the peace process in Afghanistan.
• The Chains of Commanding: After he retires from active operations in Season 4 and transfers to working at the Ops Center, he starts experiencing what the support personnel he always relied on feel, being so far away from the fighting and powerlessly watching from a screen.
• Character Tic: Briefly in "Tip of the Spear" where his hand rubs his legs. This is most likely from wiping Nate's blood from his combat pants.
• Dented Iron: Jason freely admits that age and injuries are catching up to him and makes sure to receive physical therapy so that he can continue going out into the field. This becomes worse in season five when he starts to experience memory problems due to a possible Traumatic Brain Injury.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: During training ops with Bravo, he tends to make the rest of the team do their drills again in order to take down OPFORs fast and hard.
• Experienced Protagonist: He says he joined the Navy in June of 2001, expecting to serve in a peacetime military. Then 9/11 happened not long after and he ended up fighting a war for the better part of two decades.
• Hopeless with Tech: Alana notes that although millions of dollars went into training and equipping him, Jason can't figure out how to use a pod coffee machine.
• Master Chief Rock: The rock that holds up his team.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Jason feels guilty for calling out Lopez and goading him into following the raid on Gonzales, because his identity was exposed during that mission, leading to the entire Lopez family being marked for death.
  • Season 3 reveals he feels immense guilt over the death of a teammate more than a decade previously, believing that the man died because he was preoccupied with the impending birth of Michael, his second child. He compensated for that perceived failure by becoming laser-focused on being an operator to the detriment of his home life.
• My Greatest Failure: He blames himself for the events that led to Nate's death due to his insistence in searching a cargo ship suspected to be used by terrorists.
• Omniglot: Speaks Arabic and English.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Since he normally wears t-shirts and shorts around base, DEVGRU's CO can immediately see that something is wrong when Jason comes to his office in proper uniform.
• Real Men Eat Meat: When talking to a physiologist, he declares that he's a meat-eater and grilling-aficionado and refuses to accept a change in diet.
• Retired Badass: In Season 4, he decides he's had enough of operating in the field and becomes an Ops Chief overseeing intelligence and resources for Echo.
• Secret Relationship: As of Season 3 episode 9, he's in a relationship with Dr. Natalie Pierce, the physiologist assigned to Bravo Team, but they are trying to keep it a secret since the rest of the team resents her presence on the team and it will certainly cause drama if they have to acknowledge her as Chief Hayes' girlfriend instead of just as a professional medical specialist. However, it gets defied in Episode 10 when he decides to go "all-in" with her and brings her with him to a drinking party with Bravo. However, this romance gets cut short when Jason's commitment overshadows their relationship.
  • Jason undergoes this with Mandy Ellis after saving her during Season 5 before committing to a Relationship Upgrade at the end of the season.
• Status Quo Is God: He tries to force Bravo to remain the way it is and doesn't take any changes to the team's status quo kindly.
• Tragic Keepsake: He keeps the contact details of deceased SEALs on his phone as a reminder of those he lost.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A sweet younger man, in this case. He used to be a dedicated family man, enthusiastic about being a father and committed to doing as much as he can as a husband to Alana. Then, he began blaming himself for the death of a teammate and hardened himself against his family so he can be fully focused on his brothers in the field.

Ray

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ray Perry, Bravo 2

Played by: Neil Brown Jr

Long-time SEAL veteran and Hayes' closest friend. He acts as a calming influence within the team.

• All for Nothing: All the agonizing over whether to tell the Army investigator about the truth of his grenade throw turns out to be this when he makes a full disclosure of what really happened with his injured shoulder. The investigator (who at this point has already decided to clear Ray of any wrongdoing and recommends a paltry $5,000 reimbursement to the victim's family) barely even reacts to the confession and doesn't change a thing in his report. Even worse, it's pretty clear from his demeanor that he doesn't really care about Ray's emotional state and that he viewed the whole investigation as just an annoying formality.
• Affectionate Nickname: He used to be known as "Prime Time Perry" for his swagger and enthusiasm as an operator. The nickname and attitude slowly began to fade as he got married and had children and became much more sedate and levelheaded.
• Badass in Distress: A major Season 4 story arc sees him captured by terrorists and struggling to survive in captivity.
• Crisis of Faith: Ray struggles with his belief system and purpose for much of the latter part of season 2, after denying a dying man last rites in an attempt to elicit information from him. He ultimately finds his way back to his faith after getting separated from his team and nearly dying in "My Life for Yours."
• Friendly Sniper: He is one of Bravo's snipers, sharing the role with Clay.
• Happily Married: One of the few SEALs with a happy home life with his wife and two children.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: He lies to Jason about the state of his shoulder so that he can go on deployment with the rest of the team and continue getting paid at combat pay rates. It ends up biting him big time when during the chase against Abu Ali, he tries to throw a frag grenade to flush him out of cover but his shoulder acts up and it ends up short. It then turns out his grenade killed a 10-year old Afghan boy and he finds himself the subject of an Army investigation. When he finally comes clean to Jason in the first season finale, Jason is furious at him.
• The Lancer: Supportive 2nd in command and confidant to Jason, who also doesn't hesitate to call him out and (try) to keep him grounded.
• Morton's Fork: In "Containment," he experiences severe pain in his shoulder during an informal physical. Jason takes him off the mission and orders him to get a full medical examination including an MRI, a process which will take weeks. This puts him in a tough spot since his home finances are a disaster as the budget he had built with his wife depends on him bringing in hazard pay from combat missions, which will be ruined if he can't go on missions. He decides not to see any doctors and ends up lying to Jason after the team comes back from the mission to Moldova that his arm is just slightly strained and the doc prescribed him some painkillers.
  • In "Ignore and Override," Blackburn informs him that he's up for a promotion to Master Chief, which would be a massive boon for his family's financial situation. But taking the promotion would require him to leave Bravo Team since the Navy looks down on any SEAL team having two Master Chiefs in the same unit. In "Adapt and Overcome" he decides to solve the problem by instead going for a promotion to the Warrant Officer track instead, which will allow him to stay on the team while still bringing in the extra income his family needs.
• Omniglot: Speaks Arabic and English.
• Rank Up: He's tapped for promotion to master chief and command of his own team, but decides to apply to become a warrant officer instead because it will allow him to stay with Bravo while giving him a much-needed pay raise.
• Real Men Love Jesus: A devout Christian with a very good memory for the Bible, who never misses church.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Played with. Ray certainly considers being taken out of the field and being put in charge of training a Green Team to be this. But Adam explains just how important it is for more experienced operators to pass on their knowledge and Jason previously pointed out that taking a training assignment is a necessary step in becoming a team leader even as he was kicking Ray out of Bravo as punishment.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He explicitly say that he's the level-headed one in his relationship with Jason, who's much more aggressive.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Develops PTSD as a result of his capture in Season Four. The sound of a drill motor causes him flashbacks of his torture, and he at one point freezes up when confronted with an enemy dressed similarly to his his chief torturer.
• Two First Names: "Ray" and "Perry."
• Verbal Tic: Makes a very regular habit of calling his fellow SEALs "brother."
• Wall of Weapons: A table in this case. While explaining that DEVGRU operators can receive any weapon they want, he shows off his personal arsenal, which has enough weapons to outfit each member of Bravo.
• What the Hell, Hero?: At the end of Season 4, Jason tells him that he needs to be open to Naima about what happened to him in Tunisia or their relationship can't be salvaged and he'll continue to have PTSD problems.

Sonny

SWO1 Sonny Quinn, Bravo 3

Played by: A.J. Buckley

A heavy weapons specialist who frequently acts as the team's devil's advocate. He hails from Texas.

• The Alcoholic: His drinking - in particular, his becoming drunk while aboard ship - becomes a problem late in Season Four.
• Butt-Monkey: He bears the brunt of his fellows' ribbing, from them implying he's not smart enough to read, to being ribbed over his fear of sharks.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Sonny portrays himself as an uncouth unsophisticated knuckle-dragger whose idea of solving problems is shooting them. He is also emotionally sensitive, good with children, and is quite emotionally perceptive.
• Brutal Honesty: He's the one to try and get Bravo to confront harsh truths when they're facing dire situations.
• Casting Gag: Nozomu Sasaki (in the Japanese dub version) last time portrayed an elite commando, albeit formerly from the South Korean military in Full Metal Panic!.
• Chekhov's Gun: His time in Laughlin Air Force in Texas on orders from Lindell includes Sonny taking time to learn about the basic of disarming IED traps. This came in handy throughout "No Choice in Duty".
• The Cynic: He's very honest when he says that the team can't expect to save the Syrian refugees in "Other Lives", considering what's happening in Europe with the refugee crisis and the Syrian Civil War.
• Flanderization: He starts out the series as the team's jokester with a tendency to get himself into trouble when not deployed because he gets bored. This transforms into outright self-destructive behavior and helplessness that would leave him dead if his team wasn't around to bail him out.
• Forbidden Romance: He and Davis begin a relationship towards the end of Season 2. While it was already iffy to begin with (since they work closely together), it crosses into forbidden territory once Davis earns her commission.
• Married to the Job: He's the one member of the team who has absolutely zero social life that isn't related to the military in one way or another. Starts changing in season 2 when he eventually starts a relationship with Lisa Davis. However, Sonny learns that during his time in Texas, he fathered a daughter with his ex-girlfriend, Hannah Oliver.
• More Dakka: He's in charge of handling the light machine gun during most combat ops.
• The Nicknamer: In Season 2, he starts giving Clay new nicknames every episode, trying to find one that will stick. He later starts doing the same to Kairos, then Vic as well.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: A.J. Buckley's Canadian accent occasionally slips through in scenes where Sonny gets worked up.
• Sad Clown: The first season finale reveals that he actually has a very sad and lonely life outside of DEVGRU, with an empty apartment and no non-military friends or family.
• Status Quo Is God: Like Jason, he wants things to stay exactly as they are and treats changes that occur within Bravo and the War on Terror as if they wre personal affronts. Although after spending time with his old classmate and father, Sonny realizes that maybe some change is not a bad thing.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has an ever increasing list of phobias related to every environment SEALs operate in. Everyone finds it especially ironically hilarious that Sonny joined the Navy and became a SEAL despite being afraid of the water and sharks.

Clay

SWO1 Clay Spenser, Bravo 6

Played by: Max Thieriot

One of Bravo's two designated marksmen who came to the team wih a flippant attitude and family baggage. He's questioned by commanders and veterans alike for not obeying orders and taking things seriously but is growing into his role as a Tier-One operator. Comments by Jason and Ray indicate that they see Clay as being the one to take over Bravo once they leave.

• Ambition Is Evil: When he begins considering the STA-21 commissioning program to advance his career, Jason and Sonny begin treating him like a traitor.
• Badass in Distress: In "The Upside Down," the explosion from an Iraqi artillery shell causes him to fall down a hole into a cellar. Ray has to leave him behind so he can set up an overwatch position to cover the rest of the team, leaving Clay on his own to avoid detection by ISIS fighters.
• Dare to Be Badass: In "Payback," when Lisa comes by to visit him in the hospital, he doesn't want to talk about his feelings so he coaxes her to talk instead. She ends up admitting that she may not be cut out for Officer Candidate School and may drop out. Clay's immediately lashes out at her for giving up on a long-time dream of hers, and pointedly reminds her that "the Navy needs all the good ones," giving her the inspirational boost to stay in the OCS program. This is the first time since being admitted to the hospital that he was able to focus on something other his own doubt and self-pity.
• Embarrassing Nickname: In Season 2, Sonny starts heaping nicknames - such as "Blondie", "GQ", and "Cover Girl" - on Clay to see if one sticks.
• Foil: Clay's this to Jason, just because he's in a relationship with Stella and is concerned on having a committed relationship. Jason warns him that depending on how things are with her, he may or may not have a good marriage.
• Friendly Sniper: He shares this role with Ray, providing overwatch for Bravo in the field.
• Happily Married: He and Stella decide to get married after the end of Season 4.
• Heroic BSoD: In "Say Again Your Last," shortly after taking a 7.62 round to the body armor, Clay watches Adam Seaver, Bravo's temporary team leader who's also his mentor, die in an explosion. As 2IC, Clay is supposed to take over command, but he completely shuts down to the point of being unable to even respond to Blackburn on the radio. Ray ends up stepping up to take over for the rest of the mission, for which Clay later thanks him.
• It Runs in the Family: His father served with the SEALs and DEVGRU; Jason describes him as being "special ops royalty."
• New Meat: He's already an experienced SEAL Team 3 operator and was an assistant team leader before trying out for DEVGRU. This means nothing to the veterans in the team he's trying to join and he's treated like a green recruit and, when sent out in the field, is regarded as a "strap" ^note someone whose specialist knowledge is needed but is also considered a burden rather than an operator. When he finally passes Selection, he's relentlessly hazed and soon finds himself owing the team 19 cases of beer for various "infractions".
• Omniglot: He's spoken at least seven different languages/dialects on screen so far. He grew up in Africa and speaks several local dialects. He also demonstrates the ability to speak at least some Pashto, French, Hindi, Spanish and Mandarin.
• Raised by Grandparents: He was raised by his maternal grandparents, as neither of his parents were capable of taking care of him.
• Sins of Our Fathers: His father wrote a tell-all book about the Navy SEALs and was declared persona non grata by his former comrades. As a result, Clay finds that his trainers are prejudiced against him.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks he deserves the spot he's trying out for. Everyone else thinks otherwise. Much of his Character Development in Season 1 is learning to grow out of this.
• Sniper Rifle: He almost always carries a long-barreled rifle with a magnifying scope, even in situations where he's expecting to engage in CQB.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: He finds himself in a windowless office proofreading reports after taking blame for a controversial letter Ray wrote.
• Trauma Conga Line: This trope probably applies to all members of Bravo to some extent due to the nature of their job, but may apply to Clay a little extra. In roughly a year's worth of time within the show, he has:
  • Watched his best friend die in a training accident
  • Gotten shot, then immediately afterward watched his mentor die in an explosion, for which he blamed himself
  • Been left by the girlfriend he loved and wanted to marry, because she couldn't handle her own fear of losing him in action
  • Been critically wounded by an IED, sustaining injuries that threaten his career
  • Found his friend, the only person he had to help him through recovery, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
• What the Hell, Hero?: He is frequently on the receiving end of lectures because of his flippant conduct.
  • When the capture op on an ISIS leader goes bad, Hayes calls him out for shooting him since he told to cover them instead of clearing the tunnel, and the mission was to capture the target alive.
  • During training, Big Chief calls him out for not keeping an eye on the hostage, because she turned out to be a terrorist.
  • Adam reams him out for grandstanding during training by heroically Jumping on a Grenade, saying that glory-seeking has no place within the teams and will only get people killed during real missions.
  • In "Backwards in High Heels", both Lisa and Sonny berate him for getting ready to beat down a man he thought was going out with Stella, only for it to turn out that the woman was someone who looked similar to Stella.

Trent

SWO1 Trent Sawyer, Bravo 4.

Played by: Tyler Grey

Bravo's corpsman. He also occasionally acts as a designated marksman alongside Ray and Clay.

• Ascended Extra: He starts getting more lines and focus in the second season, particularly after Clay is crippled by an IED in the Philippines and is airlifted back to America for treatment.
• Badass Driver: Uses his driving skills in "Collapse" to help Hayes and the others get to the American Embassy in downtown Juba.
• Combat Medic: He is the team's corpsman, rendering first aid in the field to whoever needs it.
• Dented Iron: "Close to Home" reveals that Trent may have to take time off from doing special forces ops due to the need to take corrective surgery on most of his injuries so that he's at least decently capable of working in the field before he needs to retire.
• Friendly Sniper: Sometimes takes on the designated marksman role, using a longer-barrelled HK416D and low-power variable optic instead of his usual 10-inch barrel carbine with holographic sight when he's needed to support Clay. In "What appears to be," he and Clay form a sniper-spotter team.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Trent is more than happy to use a LAW to take out an ISIL armored vehicle borne IED during an op in Syria.
• Those Two Guys: With Brock.

Brock

SWO1 Brock Reynolds, Bravo 5

Played by: Justin Melnick

Bravo's canine handler who is also tasked with backup activities, such as tracking down missing persons.

• Canine Companion: He's the handler for a Malinois named Cerberus and they are rarely far apart. Later on, he helps manage a new one named Pepper.
• The Quiet One: He speaks the least among the regular members of Bravo. Lampshaded by Sonny in the Season 2 finale.

  Sonny: It's time for you to go back to not talking.

• Those Two Guys: With Trent.

Blackburn

Lt. Commander Eric Blackburn

Played by: Judd Lormand

A DEVGRU squadron commander and Jason's immediate superior.

• Artistic License – Military:
  • At one point Blackburn is addressed as "Lieutenant" even though he is a Lieutenant Commander and should be addressed as "Commander."
  • In his promotion party, Blackburn wears a warrant officer's specialty device for Special Warfare Technician on his cuff. As SEAL officer, he's actually an unrestricted line officer and should be wearing a star on his cuff above his stripes.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Blackburn is as polite and patient as his position allows him to be. Which is why Clay takes it seriously when Blackburn threatens to knock his head off if he doesn't shape up.
• The Bus Came Back: As of Season 6, he is back to being Bravo's direct CO again after having spent the past two seasons drifting in and out with other responsibilities.
• A Father to His Men: As he says at his promotion celebration, Bravo Team will always be a family to him.
• Mildly Military: Due to the nature of special operations, Bravo addresses him by name rather than by rank or as "Sir." He only starts insisting on formalities when Bravo truly screws up.
• Mission Control: His responsibilities require him to stay behind and take overall responsibility of missions and act as a liaison between his team and higher command authorities back in the States. Even when he goes out in the field with the team, he'll hang back and provide overall command while Jason handles the actual tactical decisions.
• Mr. Exposition: Leads the briefing back in America for the SEALs.
• Put on a Bus: In "All In," he receives a promotion to Commander and is rotated to bigger responsibilities away from Bravo Team. He briefly returns in "One Life to Live" to inform Davis via comm that close air support is not available for Bravo, and then again in the episode's ending to pay his respects at Full Metal's wake.
  • Commuting on a Bus: He returns in the Season 5 premier for the mission to North Korea as one of the officers overseeing the operation. He makes a few more sporadic appearances in the season performing administrative functions at HQ, such as warning Davis not to publish her thesis critical of the U.S. Navy's overall War on Terror strategy, and notifying Ray that Command has closed their PTSD investigation of his conduct in Nigeria without incident.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He'd like to help his men on the ground by accommodating their requests. Sometimes, the bureaucrats don't always agree with him.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: His calling Jason "Master Chief" is a signal that he's being serious and not in the mood to deal with insubordination. Jason, with his hard-charging personality, often misses the cue, however.

Lisa

Ensign Lisa Davis

Played by: Toni Trucks

Originally a logistics specialist who made sure that Bravo was properly equipped along with providing mission support when the team is deployed. Late in Season 2, she accepts a placement at OCS and earns a commission. With that change, she becomes an intelligence officer and quickly realizes that being an officer carries a heavier burden than she expected.

• Action Girl: In "Collapse" where she helps Ray evacuate a wounded reporter from Juba.
• Almighty Janitor: Davis is "only" a logistics specialist who manages Bravo's logistics, but she keeps the Bravo Team show running behind the scenes, and as Blackburn puts it, she has a group of the most aggressive, independent alpha males in the world eating out of her hand. Brock meekly accepts her chastisement when one of Cerberus' cases goes missing (because he didn't pack it according to her system).
• The Chains of Commanding: She begins feeling the weight of these when she begins running operations as an officer. Now that she is in a position to make life-and-death decisions about Bravo, she feels the pressure a lot more.
• Ensign Newbie: Becomes this after she earns a commission. Although everyone is well-aware of her abilities and respect her, they can't resist engaging in some light-hearted ribbing.
• Insecure Love Interest: During the deployment to Afghanistan, she confides in Clay that she is a bit worried that her boyfriend Danny is spending so much time with his physical therapist, who is in her mind "a six-foot blonde."
• Rank Up: She graduates from OCS in Season 2 and is commissioned as an Ensign.
• Secret-Keeper: Defied on her behalf. She reveals in "Enemy of my Enemy" that she could see on the drone footage that Ray's injured shoulder affected how he threw his grenade and that she would be willing to delete the footage. Ray threatens to have her reported to the Criminal Investigation Division if she does so.
• Two First Names: "Lisa" and "Davis".
• Up Through the Ranks: After nine years as an enlisted sailor, she decides to apply to OCS to become an officer.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Helps relays orders and advice to the SEALs.

Mandy

Mandy Ellis

Played by: Jessica Paré

A CIA officer who tasks Bravo with their missions and provides briefs and updates while also engaging in her own intelligence-gathering missions. In Season 3, she's exiled to a more mundane paper-pushing role as punishment for helping Bravo disobey orders and abandon a vital mission.

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's very guarded and professional.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Mandy is friendly/respectful to the SEALs, but avoids spending time with them off hours or getting too friendly. She explains to Lisa that her job is to send people into dangerous situations where they can be killed, and keeping her distance is required for her to do her job.
• Consummate Liar: As expected of a professional CIA veteran. After Bravo rescues her in Burkina Faso and she tells them her whole story of going back in under non-official cover to rescue the sister of a warlord she had once used as a local asset, it's clear the whole team isn't buying it. Later as Bravo is departing the country, she tells Jason she's never lied to him, which he just answers with a scoffing "Uh-huh." But he's willing to play along and stay in touch with her.
• Damsel in Distress: In Season 5 Jason finds out she is somehow tangled up with the Sahaba of the Greater Sahel terror group when he finds a photo of her being held captive during a raid on an SGS cell.
• Mr. Exposition: Responsible for briefing the SEALs prior to an operation.
• Omniglot: Speaks English, Arabic, & Tagalog, the latter languages with an accent.
• Put on a Bus: She retires from the agency and fieldwork in general at the end of "Forever War," after one too many informants getting killed becomes an insurmountable weight on her conscience. She returns briefly in "A Question of Honor" to offer Jason some moral support during his court martial, but she can't do much more than that after losing all her security clearances, and appears to have permanently left the show after that. Then she turns out to have been captured in Burkina Faso by Sahaba of the Greater Sahel in "Need to Know" along with a notorious local warlord for unknown reasons.
• Relationship Upgrade: Jason and Mandy officially enter a relationship at the end of Season 5 after a few dates.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In order to get an the Indians to provide a helicopter that extracts Bravo team from hostile territory after they save Ray, she gives the Indians the name and location of a terrorist that happens to also be a CIA asset. When the team returns, she goes before a CIA board and gets called out for going rogue. As a result, and despite her role in saving a SEAL team, she gets herself assigned to desk duty in DC instead of the field. When she finally returns to the field in Season 3, she's been demoted from case officer, and serves mostly as Davis' assistant.
• Two First Names: "Mandy" and "Ellis."
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Helps relays intel to the SEALs.

Recurring Characters

SEAL Families

Michael Hayes

Played by: Kelton Du Mont

Jason and Alana's son.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: As the series goes on, mentions of him start becoming more and more sparse, to the point that his existence seems to practically disappear as of the third season. He finally returns to make a physical reappearance in the Season 5 premier.
• Morality Pet: For Jason to at least come home and see him once in a while.
• Tyke Bomb: Gets into trouble with the school's principal due to an altercation after his parents separate.

Emma Hayes

Played by: Kerri Medders

Jason and Alana's oldest child and the big sister of Michael.

• Dating What Daddy Hates: In Season 5 she starts dating a boy named Brad who by all rights should be right up Jason's alley, until he finds out they want to move in together and moreso, he also wants to join the Navy and become a SEAL. Ironically enough this is what Jason reacts most negatively to. Although considering how his own marriage turned out, it's not surprising.
• Morality Pet: With Michael for Jason and Alana.

Naima

Played by: Parisa Fakhri

Ray's wife. She's a nurse and one of the few who can cope with being a SEAL spouse.

• Happily Married: Her marriage with Ray is one of the few in the SEAL community that remain strong despite the extreme stresses caused by his job.
• Meet Cute: She was working as an ER nurse in Detroit when Ray was brought in after a bar fight and bled out over her new white shoes.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Naima gets more angry at Ray in the middle of Season 2 for not helping her keep house and putting things in priority for their daughter ever since he got back from Mexico.

Stella Baxter

Played by: Alona Tal

Clay's girlfriend, a graduate student.

• The Bus Came Back: She permanently returns to the series in Season 4 and restarts her romance with Clay.
• Commuting on a Bus: She makes sporadic appearances throughout in Season 3, trying to reestablish her relationship with Clay.
• Demoted to Extra: After she breaks up with Clay in the second season, her appearances on the show become much sparser.
• Never Heard That One Before: When Clay first meets Stella, he says "SSTTTEEELLLAAA!". She's not amused and asks if he can even name what the quote is from, or quote something else form it. As she's leaving, he does in fact use a different quote from it, getting a genuine chuckle out of her.
• Only One Name: Her last name was only mentioned once, very briefly near the end of the first season finale when another teacher's aide refers to her as "Ms. Baxter."
• Put on a Bus: She moves across the country in the wake of her break up with Clay after Season 2.
• Soapbox Sadie: A very left-wing self-proclaimed feminist who studies education and gender studies. She starts to lay off on the politicking the longer she's with Clay, especially after they move in together into an apartment complex specifically reserved for SEALs and she gets to know the couple across the hall who are also a SEAL and his girlfriend.

Ash Spenser

Played by: C. Thomas Howell

A retired SEAL commando who is now a book writer and frequent commentator on cable news networks. He wasn't present in Clay's life due to his time with the SEALs.

• Disappeared Dad: Unfortunately had this role due to the need of being ready to be deployed 24/7. Clay hated this.
• Glory Hound: Clay more or less accuses him of this in "My Life For Yours," but also notes that it can be used for good, such as using his major media influence to further promote himself by tackling the problem of traumatic brain injuries in the military.
• Persona Non Grata: He wrote his book without permission from the Navy, leading him to be ostracized by his former comrades.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: His constant deployments led to him becoming a stranger to his own son.

Guest Characters

USA

"Big Chief"

Played by: Michael Rooker

A SEAL veteran who helps oversee the SEAL's training.

Lucien

Played by: James Hiroyuki Liao

A WMD specialist who's called in whenever the SEALs get involved in scenarios that have WMDs. He's called "Dr. Death" by the SEALs.

• Mr. Exposition: Gives Jason the briefing that the drill bit he found was drilling Lanthanum in "Takedown".
• Non-Action Guy: He's forced to join the SEALs in the field to test for chemical weapons during the Syrian op and is not happy about it.

Dr. Julie Kruger

Played by: Reiko Aylesworth

The team's appointed psychologist who looks after their welfare by conducting psychological evaluations.

• Reasonable Authority Figure: Dr. Kruger wants to help Hayes get over what happened to Nate, but she tells him that he needs to stop blaming himself for Nate's death.

Allies

Military

Lieutenant Abu Nadi

Played by:

• Authority Equals Asskicking: Leads the Afghan Army Special Forces contingent to work alongside the SEALs in Afghanistan.

Asadi

Played by: Monib Abhat

• Red Herring: Asadi's suspected of being a mole for Hakan since he just transferred to join up with his Special Forces from his assignment in the Afghan Army Commando unit. Turns out that it's one of Nadi's trusted men who's the mole for Hakan and not Asadi.

Colonel Francisco Martinez

Played by: Felix Soliz

• Colonel Badass: Colonel Martinez accompanies Bravo on their raid on Gonzalez at the start of the Mexico arc, and regularly personally leads his Marines on raids against the cartel.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Leads a Marine Naval Infantry unit assigned to bag Doza.
• Face Death with Dignity: Takes a bullet in an ambush and loses a fatal amount of blood. Martinez calmly requests that he be given Last Rites, and quietly, calmly, goes to meet his maker.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Hides his bullet wound from Bravo Team, to make sure that Trent will use his limited medical supplies to save Lazo, so that Lazo can lead them to Doza, knowing full well that his wound will be fatal without medical attention.
• Hero of Another Story: Has led anti-cartel operations with Mexican Marines in the past, and has been enough of a nuisance to be marked for death.

Lieutenant Juan Lopez

Played by: Bobby Daniel Rodriguez

• Chekhov's Gun: Tells a story on how he knows of a Mexican soldier who sacrified himself to a cartel to save his family from being targeted. It worked and the cartel paid no attention to his relatives, but it's implied that they have PTSD due to the soldier's death. Turns out that Lopez wanted to do the same thing until Jason and Ray saved him from being stupid.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Assigned to a Marine Naval Infantry unit assigned to bag Doza.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Butts heads with Jason early on, but grows into mutual respect and friendship after they operate together.
• Hot-Blooded: Is rearing to go into action in order to end the mess Doza started, but his superior and the SEALs always have to rein him in.
• Hero of Another Story: Participated in numerous anti-cartel operations in the past.

Sergeant Major Nigel Wickham

Played by: Luke Mably

• Elites Are More Glamorous: An NCO from the British SAS.
• Nice Guy: Despite Jason talking down his initial plans for being too risky, Nigel's willing to listen to him for any suggestions.

Commander Johnny Bayani

Played by: JB Tadena

• Elites Are More Glamorous: He serves with NAVSOG, which was partially modeled after the SEALs.
• Meaningful Name: His surname, Bayani, means hero in English. He's in the NAVSOG taking out the NRF.

Agent Rita Alfaro

Played by: Mirelly Taylor

• Hero of Another Story: She's involved in CISEN ops against the various drug cartels operating in Mexico.
• The Mole: Turns out she's Dosa's mole in the op to hunt him.

Commander Nouri

• Action Girl: She's a YPG fighter who's leading a female unit to take on ISIS and other pro-Islamist forces in Syria.
• Taking You with Me: Nouri was taken by Al-Sham Brigade fighters, but used her grenades to kill her and the fighters near her.

Antagonists

Afghanistan

Nouri Halani

Played by: Maz Siam

Abad Halani

Played by: Wasim No'mani

No.2 man of the Halani Network, working under his brother Nouri Halani.

• Dragon Ascendant: Offers up Nouri Halani to the Americans, so that they'll take him out and weaken his faction, allowing Abad to usurp control of the Halani Network.

General Selim Hakan

Played by: Ismail Bashey

Afgan National Police commander for Nangahar Province, as well as a successful businessman and fixer who plays all sides against each other.

• Asshole Victim: He's targeted by the Halani Network just to clean up potential loose ends.
• Dirty Cop: Widely suspected internationally of being involved secretly in the drug trade.
• The Mole: For the Halani Network.
• Walking Spoiler: It'd be hard to talk more about the man especially if he gets killed later on.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a well-known officer in the Afghan National Police.

Alan Cutter

Played by: Jonathan Cake

• Private Military Contractor: Heads Xenon Tactical Security and its Afghan operations.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a well-known PMC commander, whose company has a reputation for being more ethical than Blackwater.

Yassine "Raqqa Jacques" Kassen

Played by: Philip Shahbaz

• Arms Dealer
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Inflicted this on Ray while he was in captivity.

Mexico

Andres Doza

Played by: Yul Vazquez

• Arc Villain: Of the Mexico arc in season 2.
• Expy: The SEALs treat him on the level of ISIL since he doesn't discriminate killing men, women and children.
  • Although the use of his drug money to provide services in the rural parts of Mexico has him on part with Pablo Escobar.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to Doza, he doesn't threaten people to work for him. He gives them choices and makes them choose the less evil one.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's well-liked by the public for providing public services. Not to mention that the rest of the world unsuspectingly knows Doza as a businessman.
• Would Hit a Girl: Doza doesn't spare his female employees if they do something stupid. He even kills his sister-in-law.

Carlos Gonzalez

Played by: Paolo Cesar

• Cop Killer: Responsible for killing a DEA officer operating in Mexico City.
• The Dragon: To Doza and he leads up interrogations on anyone trying to make a move on the Doza Cartel alongside El Lazo.

El Lazo

Played by: Antonio Jaramillo

• The Dragon: Alongside Carlos in ensuring Doza's control in the slums.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As evil as he is, El Lazo is a practicing Catholic.
• Heel–Face Turn: Once he realizes that he's dying, Lazo decides to tell Ray where he can find Doza so that he can get last rites.

Former Characters

Deceased *Spoilers!*

Nate Massey

Played by: Daniel J Gilles (Episode 1)

A SEAL and good friends with Jason. His death in "Tip of the Spear" serves as the catalyst for the stateside storyline.

• Plot-Triggering Death:
  • His death shocked Jason so much that it negatively affected his personal life, resulting in his wife kicking him out of the house and his trying to salvage his marriage or, failing that, at least trying to stay close to his children.
  • An ongoing plot involves Jason and Ray investigate allegations that Nate was seeing someone else after Alana finds Nate's burner phone. It's resolved in "The Spinning Wheel" when one of Jason's ex-buddies back in Afghanistan helped the woman escape after she got paranoid about her husband's disappearance, who worked as an interpreter, for fear of being assassinated by the Taliban. Nate helped her stateside with setting up her new name and identity.

Brian Armstrong

Played by: Jay Hayden (Episodes 1-5)

A SEAL who's training with Clay to be in a Tier-1 team. He is killed during a parachute freefall qualification test when his parachute doesn't open on time.

• We Hardly Knew Ye: Not a lot is revealed about him while he's alive, aside from the fact that he's the one person who doesn't dismiss Clay out of hand. After his death, however, Clay and Adam slowly piece together that Brian came from a broken home and had a rough childhood but that he refused to succumb to his troubled surroundings and eventually found a place to belong in the Navy and the SEALs.

Alana Hayes

Played by: Michaela McManus

Jason's estranged wife. They were separated a few weeks after Nate dies in the line of duty.

Alana died after her vehicle got into a collision with a drunk driver.

• Amicable Exes: Despite their separation, they still try to get along in part because of Michael's future of potentially growing up without his parents in his life.
• Make Up or Break Up: She gives Jason her ultimatum in "Getaway Day" that she cannot keep sharing Jason's life with the Navy and decides to divorce him.
• Pull the Thread: Discovers a burner phone among Nate's remaining belongings and insists that Jason look into it.
• Sex with the Ex: "Ghosts of Christmas Future" shows she and Jason are still sleeping with each other despite their separation. She knows it's not a healthy arrangement.

Master Chief Petty Officer Adam Seaver

Played by: Michael Irby

A senior instructor in Green Team, responsible for training and selecting potential DEVGRU operators.

In Season 2, he steps in as Bravo 1 to take Jason's place in the wake of Alana's death. He dies stopping a suicide bomber during an attack in Mumbai.

• Brutal Honesty: He doesn't hold back when it comes to verbally criticizing his recruits, frequently targeting Clay for his grandstanding during training. Jason says that this is actually a sign that Adam is getting soft in his old age as, in the past, he'd normally beat recruits to a pulp for insubordination.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Downplayed; Adam is more strict and demanding than he is mean.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He tackles a suicide bomber and is killed when the bomb vest goes off.
• Retired Badass: Used to be Bravo 1, some years before the start of the series, but has since become a training instructor in Green Team.

Brett Swann

Played by: Tony Curran

A retired SEAL who served with Bravo Team. He becomes a roommate of Clay's after Stella moves out.

• Driven to Suicide: After being denied treatment at the VA, he winds up shooting himself in the heart in his truck rather than spend another decade slowly going insane and dying an equally horrific death.
• Game-Breaking Injury: He had to retire from the military after a long combat career. Unfortunately he found out years later that all those years of taking explosions up close have caused a traumatic brain injury that is destroying his mental faculties, and he has no treatment options since it was not reported at the time of his discharge.
• Hero of Another Story: His exploits with Bravo Team before he was discharged on medical grounds.
• Hope Spot: It looks like his luck is turning around when he & Clay are able to bully a VA bureaucrat into fast-tracking him into an appointment with a doctor, until said doctor admits he can't order any serious medical treatment for him due to the clerical issues of his discharge.
• My Greatest Failure: In what would be his final mission, he made a bad call that got one of his teammates killed, a fact that haunts him to the end of his days.
• Nice Guy: While Clay was recovering from the bombing attack, Brett come to see him everyday.
• Video Will: In "Rock Bottom" Clay finds a recording he made right before committing suicide asking that his brain be studied for future research into TBIs in hopes that the knowledge may benefit other servicemen, which is why he shot himself in the heart instead of the head.

Scott Carter, Alpha 1

Played by: Scott Foxx

• Dead Man Writing: Left a letter behind to be read to Bravo Team if he died in battle.
• Made of Iron: The reason behind his nickname. He's so tough his teammates say he's made of metal.
• Married to the Job: He never married or had kids, choosing to fully devote himself to the teams instead. He mentions it in his final letter that's read at his funeral, mentioning that people would look at his life and see "emptiness, no wife, no kids, no pets, no plants." Despite this, he makes it clear that he loved his job and would never change anything about it.
• Must Have Nicotine: He reacts in fear when Bravo suggests that DEVGRU's new CO might ban dip.
• The Pig-Pen: Jason notes he stinks.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only ever addressed as "Full Metal."
• Recurring Extra: Originally introduced as a member of Alpha Team, he becomes a semi-regular member of Bravo to fill out their ranks.

Others

EOD Summer Kairos, Bravo 7

Played by: Ruffin Prentiss

An Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician who joins Bravo in Season 2.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He disappears without a trace halfway through Season 2.
• The Gadfly: He intentionally needles Sonny, partly because it's fun and partly because Jason ordered him to.
• Granola Guy: He plays up his laid-back California hippie vibe because it annoys Sonny so much.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Sonny instantly clash, playing up the tribal differences between California and Texas, to the amusement of the rest of Bravo, although the clash is mostly one-sided and kept alive by Sonny.

Captain Harrington

Played by: Michael McGrady

DEVGRU's commanding officer at the beginning of the series.

• Put on a Bus: He hands over command of DEVGRU off-screen in Season 3.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
  • He is fully understanding of Ray's dissatisfaction of being a Green Team instructor but gently suggests that Ray consider how gunning for an open team leader position might look to Jason and the rest of Bravo.
  • He later supports Jason's decision to step down as an operator to spend more time with his children and tries to talk Jason through the emptiness he will feel once he stops operating.
  • After Brett Swann's death, Clay threatens to take the story to the media in hopes of getting Swann awarded a Purple Heart, and Harrington orders him not to. When Clay responds by simply getting his father to go to the media instead, Harrington gives his approval and says he hopes the strategy works.

Vic Lopez

Played by: Lucca De Oliveira

• Dark and Troubled Past: He briefly mentions growing up in an abusive household and having to strike out on his own at a young age.
• Moment of Weakness: After he threw a grenade and killed a hostage during a mission, he panicked and chose to let Ray take the fall for his mistake.
• New Meat: He becomes the newest member of Bravo in Season 3. He ends up integrating into the team more smoothly than Clay did.
• Omniglot: He speaks fluent Arabic, having picked up the language while working in a Lebanese restaurant as a teen.
• Put on a Bus: He's kicked out of the teams after trying to cover up a fatal mistake and saying nothing when Ray was about to take responsibility.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He was selected specifically because he can act as a calming counterpoint to Clay's more hot-headed nature.

Michael 'Thirty Mike' Chen

Played by: Tim Chiou

A member of Charlie Team who deploys with Bravo to Afghanistan at the end of Season 3. He joins Bravo Team throughout Seasons 3 & 4 on an interim basis.

• Boisterous Bruiser: He's always ready with a brag about his battle prowess.
• Hidden Depths: He comes across as loudmouthed shooter, but the fact that he takes command of Bravo indicates he's at least a CPO and has successfully trained Green Team recruits.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being the most abrasive member of Bravo Team with an ego to match, at the end of the day, his teammates mean the world to him. Best exemplified in "Horror Has a Face" when he tells Jason that while he'll deny he ever said it, he'd follow him to the end of the world.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only ever addressed as "Thirty Mike", or "Thirty" for short.
• Put on a Bus: He is absent from the show as of "Cover for Action." Clay mentions at the beginning of the episode that he has returned to Charlie Team.
• Remember the New Guy?: Introduced in the tail end of Season 3 as a former member of Bravo who is familiar with Sonny and has known both Jason and Ray longer than anyone else in Bravo.

Captain Greyson Lindell

Played by: Jamie McShane

DEVGRU's commanding officer as of Season 3. He succeeded Captain Harrington in an off-screen ceremony.

• Broken Pedestal: He's supremely disappointed when Clay claims to have leaked the Marsden letter Ray actually wrote, having seen great potential in Clay and vouched for him to be accepted into the STA21^note Seaman to Admiral 21st Century, a commissioning program which puts gifted enlisted sailors into accelerated education tracks to become commissioned officers and, eventually, admirals program.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: His last appearance in the show is in "Rearview Mirror," after which he just disappears without any comment from anyone.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • He gently gets Clay to back off on his public campaign for better medical care for injured SEALs, especially those with undiagnosed Traumatic Brain Injuries. In return, he brings in a physiologist to start taking a closer look at the men under his command.
  • When Davis is beating herself up at not being faster at her job, he redirects her focus by pointing out that she had a near-impossible task but worked through the problem and accomplished it.
  • At Jason's court martial in "Limits of Loyalty," while acknowledging his own personal clashes with him, he gives positive testimony to Jason's experience and abilities in the field.

Lieutenant Wes Soto

Played by: Mike Wade

Bravo's new commanding officer as of Season 4.

• Demoted to Extra: While he has substantial screentime in Season 4 and even hits the field with Bravo a few times, his Season 5 appearances are much sparser and he never leaves HQ. In Season 6, he only appears in the first episode.
• Foil: To both Blackburn and Clay. Compared to Blackburn who usually runs the show for Bravo back at the TOC, Soto insists on deploying together with Bravo. Like Clay, he had also been selected for STA-21 and had in fact successfully undergone the programme. Soto's an indication of what Clay could have been had Clay been commissioned.
• Friendly Sniper: Provides overwatch for Bravo in the final mission of Season 4.
• New Meat: Due to his lack of deployment experience because of STA-21 despite being a SEAL, Soto is well-aware that he's no Blackburn and seems eager to prove himself or at least earn the trust of Bravo by deploying with them to gain experience.
• Put on a Bus: After being present in the Season 6 premier for the ambush attack on Bravo, he ceases appearing in the season. Jason informs Brock at the start of "Growing Pains" that Soto was cycled over to Echo Team.