The Terminal List minor spoilers follow.
The Terminal List's Chris Pratt and Taylor Kitsch have explained how they were 'pushed past a mental breaking point' for their intense new show.
The Prime Video series, which is based on a Jack Carr novel and released its first episode today (July 1), casts Guardians of the Galaxy's Chris Pratt as the leader of a platoon of Navy SEALs ambushed during a secret mission.
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When his character, Lt. Commander James Reece, comes back to America, he's drawn into a dark conspiracy that forces him to reexamine his memories of the battle.
As part of filming The Terminal List, Pratt and co-star Taylor Kitsch were among those who took part in gruelling training so they could accurately represent the SEALs.
"Well, you know, one of the touchstone themes of the piece, both from the Jack Carr novel, all the way to the whole show, is authenticity," Pratt told Digital Spy. "And so for both of us – we've each had an opportunity to play a Navy SEAL before, in Lone Survivor for Taylor, and Zero Dark Thirty for myself. We really honed in on trying to create authentic movements, and the body language of a special operator.
"We relied heavily on training with our tech advisor, Ray Mendoza, who's a former Navy SEAL, as well as a handful of other Navy SEALs that we had on the cast and the crew, really walking us through the handling of the various weapon systems, and integrating from one gun to the next, and how we carry ourselves in the room, and how we walk around a corner and all of the tradecraft from situational awareness that's constantly going on in the minds of these men who are so highly trained.
"That training in itself was probably the most specific training, beyond just being sure you can do push-ups and pull-ups and run and be physically fit and all that kind of stuff that you can do however you want to do. There's a specificity to the movements of them in battle that we really wanted to try to maintain so we could hit that level of authenticity that we're after."
Kitsch agreed with Pratt's assessment, as well as adding the training bonded them with the real-life SEALs they'd worked with.
"There's a mind-set that these guys have. You know, like he said, it's not really how many pull-ups you can do. It's really a mind-set of this warrior mentality. So you just try and, honestly, hang out with these guys, and pick their brains, and train with them – and train like a gunfighter would," the actor said.
"These guys are the best of the best. What makes them at that level is truly their mind. You're trying to assimilate as much as you can from these guys at all times. And even on set – they were on set when we were not doing these action sequences. It keeps you humbled, and it keeps you honest when you're working on these dramatic scenes as well."
The entire experience completely changed Pratt's perceptions of the ways military missions are so often depicted in film and TV.
"Through training and through pushing yourself past your mental breaking point, you gain resilience and understand that your physical breaking point is actually much further, that you're much tougher than you may have realised. For these guys, their physical breaking point is closer than their mental breaking point. So they will physically be destroyed before they will quit," Pratt said.
"You know, there's this rule of 40% – meaning, if you're running on a treadmill, or you're holding your breath underwater, or you're in an excruciating amount of pain, they say that most people will tap out when they're at 40% of their actual capability. So if you're holding your breath for a minute and you think you're going to die, they say you actually probably have about a minute-and-a-half of breath left before you would really die.
"So they learn how to push themselves right to the point to which they would really die if they went any further. And that was a pretty extreme lesson to learn about them. And it just makes me appreciate them all the more. We have a mass affinity for that community, and this whole project is really kind of a love letter to the Navy SEAL community. That's one of the surprising things I learned about them."
The Terminal List is available to watch now on Prime Video.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
