THE TERMINAL LIST Actor-Producer Recalls ‘God’s Hand’ in Unexpected Career

Published: October 10, 2024

THE TERMINAL LIST Actor-Producer Recalls ‘God’s Hand’ in Unexpected Career

Movieguide® Contributor

THE TERMINAL LIST actor-producer Jared Shaw never dreamed he’d get to combine his two passions as an actor and Navy SEAL, but incredibly, God made a way.

“Looking back on it all, you can see God’s hand through everything,” Shaw reflected. “I grew up in a very small town in Texas, 30 or 45 minutes from where I live right now, and I’m taking no stop lights. Thirty-five people in my graduating class. One gas station. That type of 1A school.”

“A while back we started out doing church plays and…I loved it. There was a draw there, a desire to do it,” he explained. “Then I get into high school, and my oldest brother…he did a one-act play…I would watch him and think I wanna do this.”

Shaw soon auditioned for a role in a one-act and got it. He loved acting, but he never seriously considered it as a career.

One day, he got sent to the principal’s office. To delay his visit, he stopped in the school library where a Navy recruiter was handing out materials. He picked up a pamphlet that said, “Do you have what it takes to be a Navy SEAL?” After he read it, he knew what path he wanted to take.

“I knew in that moment, this is what I’m supposed to do…From that point on acting went [to the side] and SEALs went [forward], and I went and joined the Navy,” he explained. “Thankfully, made it through BUD/S on the first try and did four deployments on the east coast with team four, and the time came up to, hey you know, gotta go pick a — what we call shore duty — some sort of instructing position. What we call giving back to the community.”

“And so I thought, you know what — even though the acting storytelling, all that, had kind of taken a back seat —…it never left me in my gut. If I went out from Coronado, that puts me out three hours from LA. I wonder if I could get over there to just kind of see the moviemaking world. See what that’s like,” Shaw said.

Well, his supervisors didn’t allow him to transfer, but God soon opened a door for Shaw.

“One of our guys there that was an instructor said ‘Hey man, we’re gonna have a couple of actors come out here that are looking to do a little bit of training. They’re making a movie about the Bin-Laden raid and…is there any instructors who want to volunteer and help these guys out?’” Shaw raised his hand.

“I look back and I see God’s hand through it. That Saturday, Joel Edgerton shows up, and everybody knew who Joel was at this time. He’d done the movie WARRIOR….and then Chris Pratt was there. And he’s not the Chris Pratt we see on [GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY].”

At the time, Pratt was known as the funny guy from PARKS AND REC.

“He was trying [to do the obstacles]. I remember the poor fella ripped his hands pretty good on one of the rope climbs or something. He never stopped. He kept going the whole time,” Shaw recalled.

“It was a packed day. It was a lot. Especially for people who haven’t trained towards that,” Shaw says.

When everyone showered and got back to camp, Shaw donned a Browning hunting hat. Pratt asked him, “You like to hunt?” From then, they hit it off and began to train and hunt together.

Pratt brought Shaw onto JURASSIC WORLD to do stunts. From then on, he’d do a project with Pratt every now and then but wasn’t fully immersed in the entertainment industry just yet. Eventually, he felt that God called him to be all-in when he was in his mid-thirties.

Now, Shaw is a former Navy SEAL, producer, stuntman, technical advisor and actor. He helped produce and acted in THE TERMINAL LIST, a series about a SEAL who gets revenge for the death of his platoon. Pratt stars as the lead.

“Without Jared, THE TERMINAL LIST would not be an eight-part series on Prime Video,” said Jack Carr, who wrote the book that the show is based on.

Part of Movieguide®’s review of the series reads:

THE TERMINAL LIST has a predominantly moral worldview where good triumphs over evil, justice is served and wrong is made right. While Reece uses violent and objectionable methods, he only brings justice to those who deserve it. For example, while pursued by the FBI, he sets off a bomb that causes a landslide. It buries one of the FBI agents, and instead of escaping immediately, Reece gives her CPR and saves her life because he knows she is not his real enemy. Reece also acts mercifully when he chooses not to kill the FBI agents even though he had the opportunity. Alternatively, those involved in the deaths of his men meet violent but deserved ends…

Overall, THE TERMINAL LIST tells an engaging and thrilling story about a man pursuing justice and truth as he struggles to combat the lies around him. Throughout the series, viewers gain a deeper appreciation for the sacrifice made by service men and women. Reece’s love for his family drives him towards his goal, and ultimately good overcomes evil. However, due to his use of extreme violence to reach his goal and excessive language, Movieguide® advises extreme caution and discretion for adults.