Taylor Kitsch taps into his 'Dark Wolf'

THE ACTOR HAS MADE A CAREER PLAYING MILITARY FIGURES. BUT HE RELISHED TAKING ON THE ROLE OF A NAVY SEAL WHO DOESN'T ALWAYS DO THE NOBLE THING.

- MICHAEL ORDOÑA

KITSCH reprises his role in Prime Video's "The Terminal List: Dark Wolf."

IN “THE TERMINALLIST: DARK WOLF,” the prequel series to Prime Video's “The Terminal List” that premiered Friday , Taylor Kitsch reprises his role as Navy SEAL Ben Edwards — yes, the same Ben Edwards previously revealed to have committed an unthinkable sin against “the teams.”

The new action-espionage series’ arcing story traces Ben’s seemingly impossible journey from true believer to someone capable of betraying the original show's James Reece (Chris Pratt) and company. But for those thinking, “Haven't we seen Taylor Kitsch in uniform a few times before?” — you're not crazy. Even he isn’t sure how many times he has played military or military-adjacent roles.

“Oh God, man. Well, we can count 'em, I guess,” he says, when asked how many are in his CV. “Obviously, ‘Lone [Survivor],’ ‘Savages,’ ‘Terminal List’... I played a pretty tweaked fictional guy in ‘American Assassin.’ Does a cop count as military? ‘True Detective,’ Season 2. So roughly five.” He missed a few: Lt. Alex Hopper in “Battleship”; the titular Confederate soldier in “John Carter”; and the criminal (ex-military) Ray Jackson in “21 Bridges.” Whew. The question is, how did Kitsch become a go-to guy for such roles? Why do we instantly buy him in that context?

“He absolutely embodies it, sells it — which is a huge part of why we have this prequel season,” says Jared Shaw, a former SEAL who plays Boozer in both series and serves as a technical advisor.

“Taylor comes to the table every single day wanting to get it right,” he adds. “It’s so apparent to us that he wants to honor the community that I come from, the Navy SEAL community. I have so much respect for that, that he’s willing to put in the time and effort and ask the questions and give his thoughts.”