David Boreanaz returns to the silver screen this year—but don’t worry, he’s not evil again.
Boreanaz has played some beloved roles throughout his career, including 11 years as the vampire Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which then spawned its own spinoff based on his character, and 12 years as FBI Agent Booth on Bones.
This time, he’s made the transformation into Navy SEAL as Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes in SEAL Team, a CBS military drama that follows the most elite unit of Navy SEALS as they put their lives on the line.
Boreanaz discussed his career, his new show, and the Buffy phenomenon, in a panel at New York Comic Con last week. When asked to describe SEAL Team, he spoke about his admiration for real life Navy SEALs and all that they do. “I consider these guys true superheroes. There’s no green screens, there’s no fake blood,” Boreanaz said. “If they make a wrong turn, they’re dead.”
Filming is physically demanding but he loves “the rough messiness of it.” The show tries to be as true to real life as possible. “We hang our hat on the authenticity of it,” Boreanaz said.
When he looks back to his time on Buffy, he’s amazed at how far Angel grew as a character from the beginning, when he was more of the strong-but-silent type. “Is this guy gonna’ f—king talk or what?” Boreanaz laughed. “I look at my lines and all he says is, ‘Hey.’ Angel enters out of the shadows, looks at Buffy, and says ‘Why? Why me?’ So now he has two lines.”
He reminisced about how the set of Buffy was all about practical jokes, “hiding behind the demons, scaring the sh*t out of people,” and eating onions before make out scenes with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
When asked about the Buffy sequel, which is set 20 years after the original, the audience yelled and booed but Boreanaz was quick to shut down the negative response. “Come on, guys, it’s a good thing, let’s just embrace it,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for a reboot like this to show where we are with society now, what you can do with technology. How you can explore those relationships with the same kinds of metaphors. I’m all for it. I think it’s fantastic. Good for them. I hope that it becomes huge and successful, and does what it does.”
He continued, “You have to realize we started it. We’re proud of that. If someone wants to step in my shoes and play my character, f—k, go ahead. I think that’s great. I ain’t putting on that makeup anymore,” he laughed. “I’ll share him. If people want to play him, go ahead.”
When the fan Q&A rolled around, someone asked what he thought about the much-anticipated relationship between his character, Booth, and Dr. Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel) on Bones. “It was a great relationship in television history,” he said, ending things on a sweet note.
