Production notes

CBS announced on January 27, 2017 that they had given the pilot order for another Navy SEAL project, following the success of History Channel's Six. The episode was written by Benjamin Cavell, who was expected to be an executive producer, with Ed Redlich, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, and Christopher Chulack. Production companies involved with the pilot included Chulack Productions, East 25 C, Timberman/Beverly Productions, and CBS Television Studios. On May 12, 2017, CBS officially ordered the pilot to series. The series received a full-season order on October 12, 2017, bringing the first season to a total of 22 episodes. On March 27, 2018, CBS renewed the series for a second season. On May 22, 2018, CBS reported that both Cavell and Redlich were leaving their roles as executive producer and showrunner, and John Glenn would be showrunner. On May 9, 2019, CBS renewed the series for a third season. Spencer Hudnut replaced John Glenn as showrunner in 2019 after an internal probe by CBS resulted in his dismissal and canceling of his overall deal. On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed the series for a fourth season. On May 14, 2021, CBS reported that the series was considering a move to the streaming service Paramount+ if renewed for a fifth season; if a deal were reached, the series would air some of its fifth-season episodes on CBS before moving to Paramount+. Four days later, the deal was finalized. On February 1, 2022, Paramount+ renewed the series for a sixth season. On January 18, 2023, Paramount+ renewed the series for a seventh season. On November 15, 2023, it was announced that the seventh season would be the final season, and plans were cancelled for a stand-alone movie on Paramount+.

On March 14, 2017, it was announced that Jim Caviezel would topline CBS' then-untitled Navy SEAL drama pilot but on March 22, 2017, it was announced that David Boreanaz had been cast in the pilot's lead role of Jason, replacing Caviezel. On March 8, 2017, it was reported that A. J. Buckley would play Sonny. On August 15, 2018, it was reported that Judd Lormand had been upgraded to series regular for season 2. On August 8, 2018, it was announced that Michael McGrady and Ruffin Prentiss would recur as Captain Harrington and Summer Kairos in the series' second season. On July 10, 2019, it was reported that Jamie McShane and Rudy Dobrev were cast in recurring roles for the third season. On August 7, 2019, Emily Swallow was cast in a recurring capacity for the third season. On January 27, 2021, Shiva Negar joined the cast in a recurring role for the fourth season. On December 12, 2023, Beau Knapp was cast as a series regular for the seventh and final season.

The show looks to former operators for their real-life experience to make it as authentic as possible. The series has former Navy SEALs Mark Semos and Kenny Sheard in the writers’ room, more than 70-percent of its crew are veterans, and almost the entire stunt team are former special operators. Tyler Grey who plays Trent is a former Delta Force operator.

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 71% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "SEAL Team's solidly written first season offers compelling characters and hints at broader potential, even if it's somewhat undermined by an overall sense of predictability." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Note: The fourteenth episode of the first season and third-season finale aired out of their regular timeslots, at Wednesday 10 pm.