A.J. Buckley on His Experience of Becoming a Father on ‘SEAL Team’: ‘You Worry About All the Things  That Could Happen to You’

SEAL Team returns with a new episode tonight at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. The latest installment in the military drama is titled “Reckoning” and will see the team adjust to Ray’s new position as well as the fallout from last week’s revelation that Sonny is expecting a child.

CBS’s Matt Weiss spoke with A.J. Buckley, who plays Sonny, about this week’s episode, the show’s dedication to hiring veterans, and crying on reality  TV.

MW: Good morning, A.J., great to see you today! Some big news for your character Sonny last week with the news that he’s going to be a dad. As a father, what was it like to bring that real-life experience into the character?

AJB: It allowed me to tap into the overwhelming feeling of being a father. When I had my daughter, I started crying watching reality singing competitions. [laughs] I saw my daughter doing ballet or something and it just got me choked up. For me, one of the biggest things about being a father is realizing you’re human for the first time. First of all, you’re worried about death, you’re worried about all the things  that could happen to you and not being there for your child. I think that’s a scary thing.

I think adding that to a character like Sonny, who’s a knucklehead who accepts death on the battlefield, he never really has to think about it; is a really great part of his character.

MW: What impact will that have on Davis and the rest of the team?

AJB: You know, we definitely go through some rough patches, but I think Davis is a strong woman, she uses her ability to be understood. I think she provides the strength that allows Sonny to sort things out and process them the way he should rather than hiding from them or not talking about them.

I think his biggest fear is that he’s going to lose her. He’s looking for a place in his life where he can say the words, I love you. This is the girl that he can finally be himself with. He’s known that but it just took him a long time to get through that phase. Then when he’s finally here, he has a child with another girl and it adds chaos to his already chaotic life. Then add to that the fact that he’s deployed in the middle of that life and trying to sort through these emotions and focus on the task at hand, it becomes challenging.

MW: This week’s episode is called “Reckoning.” What’s coming up?

AJB: The team is adjusting to Ray’s new position where he’s in charge. Hiding the fact that this terrorist who tortured him is now our target. On top of that, when we actually deployed, I got shot and had to go to the hospital, and that way, things got clearer, I was able to come clean with Davis.

I told her why I acted the way I did and realized that the only way to deal with being in the field and being a father was to keep a clear head and be open with my team and with Davis.

MW: My favorite thing about SEAL Team is the work you guys do with real-life veterans. I know you have a group of people recruited by the show. Can you talk about the show’s dedication to working with these veterans and the authenticity that the show brings?

AJB: That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of. I think what CBS did, they really went out of their way to protect what they wanted to show. Hollywood, you know, people just use platforms and a lot of times veterans get taken advantage of, but this show really made history in the sense that we have more veterans hired on our show than any other show in the history of  television. We have people who have just come off deployment who are now writing and scripting or producing on the show. We have a director who’s directing our episode right now, Tyler Gray, who came on as a technical advisor for the first episode and he got the opportunity to direct last year, not even at the DGA. Turns out he’s a really incredible director. He’s a storyteller at heart. He’s directing the second episode now and he’s the glue that holds our show together.

Just look at the community that we’ve built, the people who go back home and are able to take the skills that they’ve learned and transfer them to work. I always laugh at Tyler, I see him on set directing, and you have to work with every department and the stress level is at its peak, but he never shows any stress. He looks and says, no, this isn’t

ople would be overwhelmed but that’s where he thrives. I’m incredibly proud of him. I’m incredibly proud to work with CBS. I’ve worked with them for 15 years from CSI to here and this is something that I can look back on in my career and think what an amazing experience. The veterans that I’ve met, the platforms that I’ve been a part of, the stories that we’ve been able to tell, it’s incredible.

The men and women that we represent are working with us day in and day out and their voices need to be heard. We can use our platform to raise awareness for the men and women who come home with the invisible wounds of war. They went through all of that so that you, me, and everyone else here, we can have freedom in this great country of ours