[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Episodes 1 & 2]

What turns brotherhood into betrayal? Betrayal isn’t innate; it’s a skill learned over time. In the first episode of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, the prequel series to The Terminal List and based on the character from Jack Carr’s novels, audiences witness how Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) first broke faith with his brother-in-arms, leading him to backstab those closest to him.

In Episode 1, “Inherent Resolve,” we see Ben Edwards as we’ve never seen him before: as a hero. Set in 2015, when U.S. Navy SEALs and other special operations forces are active in Iraq, including the Mosul area, primarily in a covert advisory and combat support role as part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. Chief Ben Edwards, along with fellow U.S. Navy SEALs Lt. James Reece, Lt. Raife Hastings, Lt. Mohammed “Mo” Farooq, and Lt. Ernest “Boozer” Vickers (Chris Pratt, Tom Hooper, Dar Salim, and writer-executive producer Jared Shaw), train Iraqi units for future offensives, particularly the anticipated push to retake Mosul.

As Ben trains civilians to become soldiers, he gives a speech on the importance of being there for your brother in arms. It is a clear contradiction to how we last saw Ben, who was killed for betraying his brothers. This is a Ben who still believes in his words, in his country, and in the job he is doing.

However, over the course of the episode, we see Ben’s career and his faith slowly fall apart. It begins when he leads a group of Iranian-trained soldiers and Navy SEALs into a hostage negotiation to trade ISIS leader Hamid Al-Jabouri (Joseph Makkar) for more than a dozen Iraqi Security Forces family members. But the hostages are wired, turned into human bombs, and most of the innocents who were promised protection are killed.

His faith is shaken further when his ally, ISF Sgt. Daran Amiri (Fady Demian), is forced to carry an IED in his false leg into the base mess hall under threats to his family, unaware his wife is already dead and his children, Afran (Michael Sifain) and Zaynab (Nora Harriet), who called Ben “uncle,” are missing. It breaks Ben from the inside.

Commander Bill Cox (LaMonica Garrett) gives the men a pep talk, telling them he’s proud of his country and his SEALs for fighting the good fight, though not everyone is glad they’re there. Soon after, Ben and his team learn that Al-Jabouri is behind the death of Daran’s family and the attack on their base, and they plan retaliation. But the mission is denied, leaving Raife and Ben bewildered. As Ben pieces it together, anger boils over: “The agency is protecting Al-Jabouri. He’s an asset, isn’t he? He gives you a little f**king intel and you give him immunity?” His fury grows as he reminds his superiors that their “asset” slaughtered allies, women, and children. Screaming, angry, and filled with vitriol, Ben is seething at what he has discovered. It is only Raife that can calm him down and practically drag him out.

Ben and his team plan to go after Al-Jabouri under the guise of recovering ISIS weapons on the outskirts of Mosul with the ISF. Their goal is to expose him as an asset, making him a target for ISIS, who would want to eliminate him themselves: take him alive for the agency and release him, so he is “burned,” a marked man in ISIS’s eyes.

Before they can act, however, CIA contractor Jules Landry (Luke Hemsworth) — introduced earlier during a debriefing about weapons facilitator Massoud Danawi (Farshad Farahat) — uncovers their scheme and exposes it, but it is too late. The team is already in position to strike Al-Jabouri, who erupts with righteous indignation at being attacked. “I’m with the CIA, you dog!” he cries as young veiled women cower in the corner. Ben beats him down until he collapses to the floor, zip-ties his hands as he curses and spits, and then is distracted by the sound of crying. In the corner is Zaynab, dressed as one of Al-Jabouri’s wives, the implication clear. Horrified, Ben assures the young girl she is safe.

“You take me, they will release me,” warns Al-Jabouri. “I’ll have them kill you all. What are you going to do?” Blinded by anger, Ben ignores Raife’s attempt to pull him back and executes Al-Jabouri with a bullet under the chin. In that moment of weakness — or clarity — Ben sees only the young girl who once called him uncle, now forced into the role of a child bride by a man shielded by the CIA, whose org tied bombs to hostages, and who made her father carry an explosive into an American base. Acting without authorization and placing his own needs above the safety of his brothers, Ben kills him. To us, it may feel like justice. But for Ben, it is the start of his moral unraveling.

His team quickly comes up with a cover story, but Ben knows his career is over. He picks up Zaynab as Raife cuts off the hand ties to help Ben with his cover story. The team leaves, but Ben’s story is just beginning.

By Episode 2, Ben and Raife are stripped of their SEAL Trident due to their actions, leaving them lost but open to new opportunities with other organizations that have no issues with moral gray areas. This is an origin story about the downfall of what could have been essentially a great American hero, but the corruption in the system leaks into him like a slow-acting poison. Slow, at first, but eventually it destroys his morals, his loyalty, and everything he holds dear.

In this prequel, the brotherhood between James and Ben is undeniable, but for those who have seen both series, it’s equally evident that tragedy shapes them in very different ways. What begins as loyalty forged in battle slowly diverges into two distinct paths—one marked by resilience, the other by ruin. TV Insider sat down with the actors and executive producers of The Terminal List: The Dark Wolf, who explained the nature of the Dark Wolf.

“It’s right in the title, right? The Terminal List: Dark Wolf,” said producer and showrunner David DiGilio. “And if you know the parable of the Dark Wolf and the Light Wolf, it’s a very interesting lesson, right? The wolf who wins is the wolf you feed. One of the things that’s amazing with how Jack [Carr] has built out the characters in the books, then we kind of took [them] and ran with them in the shows. This notion of a kind of Light Wolf/Dark Wolf contrast between James Reese and Ben Edwards. And Ben is going to kind of step into the world of black side operations in the past, right? This is a prequel, set in 2015, and he’s going to perhaps lose himself to that path.”

“Then in the flagship series of The Terminal List — and in the book series — Jack has Reece presented with that same choice, and will he be able to maintain his Light Wolf, his true nature, as he goes into that type of work? So it’s something that you know.”

“Again, thanks to really Taylor’s performance from Season 1, we ended up with this incredible dichotomy of these two great characters in this classic bromance, who, in some ways, are very similar, but really cannot be more different.”

Tom Hopper, who plays Raife in the series, serves as the guardian, brother, and moral compass for Ben. a role that can often be a thankless one. Yet Ben, at least in the beginning, inspires his brothers, forging a loyalty and bond that feels unbreakable

“With a character like [Raife] going against someone like Ben, you’re almost destined to fail. But Raife is, you know, so dogged in his mission to try and keep Ben on the right path. It’s tough. And I think there’s a part of Rafe that knows him, that might be where this is heading,” said Hopper. “If you look closely enough, you see those strings vibrating, and that Raife’s knowledge of Ben and the way that Ben works.”

“It comes down to loyalty. He’s willing to stick by him until the very last moment,” said Hopper.

The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, New Episodes Wednesday, Prime Video