“Men like us. Protectors, defenders, sentinels. You’re either in the fight or you’re thinking about it,” intones a voice in the trailer for “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf,” an espionage thriller that explores the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it.
Co-created by The New York Times bestselling author of “The Terminal List,” Jack Carr, and season one creator-showrunner David DiGilio, “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” is a prequel series with an origin story that follows Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch, “American Primeval”) throughout his journey from the Navy SEALs to the clandestine side of CIA Special Operations.
We Are The Mighty sat down with Carr and the show’s Writer, Executive Producer, and Technical Advisor, Jared Shaw — both prior Navy SEALs — to talk about balancing the line between authenticity and entertainment in military filmmaking.
When asked why it’s important for veterans to be part of telling military stories, Shaw shared that there are two main thoughts here.
“The first is authenticity,” he stated. Carr chimed in, “All those details that we worked so hard on, if you get some of those details wrong, it can really take someone who lived that life out of the story. It means doing tac-reloads, being aware of your surroundings, all those things, so that the firefighters, police officers, first responders, military service members… people who have lived in high-stress environments, it gives them that buy-in. It’s a fictional narrative but with accurate details from people who get it.”
And second: “Having the ability to bring more veterans in, to help them transition from the military side to film, we really tried to open that door. I was given that opportunity. Jack [Carr] created his opportunity, and we want to continue to do that and help military folks step in and be part of a team again.”
For creators who lived it themselves, it comes naturally.
“It’s so fun to get to do this,” Carr stated. “But of course, there are budget constraints, location constraints, and schedule constraints. It’s very different from writing a chapter about anything I want.”
“Jack does it so well with his books — getting those details about tactics and weapons — that we have the foundation, but it can be hard to get it right on screen. Our propmaster team did a great job considering the logistics of getting specific weapons systems into certain countries,” Shaw agreed.
Anyone who saw the first season of “The Terminal List” knows where the character of Ben Edwards ends up — this new season will start at his beginning. Carr’s hope for the show is that the focus on telling a good story, rooted in character, comes through.
For Shaw, he hopes that military audiences — and specifically the operator community — can feel how much effort went into getting it right and portraying with authenticity what he called “the world we come from.”
As a final note, both men paid homage to the military community, from families to service members.
“Sincere thank you, specifically to the families because they often get overlooked; it’s the family on the home front who hold down the fort when service members go down range. We’re focused on the mission, which means our families have to deal with everything else,” Carr expressed.
“This is a love letter to our veterans and to our active duty brethren. We wanted to get it right for you. It was truly important to us, we brought in as many veterans as we could to make it with us, so that you could know that you’re loved and that we made this for you,” Shaw affirmed.
“The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” begins streaming on August 27, 2025, with the first three episodes available on Amazon Prime, followed by one episode weekly, with the finale on September 24.
