‘S.W.A.T.’ Gets Another Shot at Success Thanks to a New Streamer

This past spring was a difficult time for S.W.A.T. fans. After eight seasons, the CBS series was canceled for not the first or second time, but for the third time, an announcement that riddled the fandom with uncertainty. Because the show had already been saved twice before, there was the nagging feeling that the same would happen again, but S.W.A.T.’s nine lives officially ran out. Now, with a spin-off in development that will see Shemar Moore return to his starring role, audiences can prep in the best way possible by reliving all the excitement that the final season brought when S.W.A.T. Season 8 arrives on Netflix on September 15.

While the title’s streaming arrival might not help those who haven’t seen the first seven seasons, it will certainly help those who maybe didn’t get to see the end of it all when it aired on network television last year. With 22 episodes total, viewers can tag along with Moore’s Hondo and an ensemble cast that also includes David Lim, Jay Harrington, Patrick St. Esprit, Anna Enger Ritch, Annie Ilonzeh, and Niko Pepaj for the group’s final set of missions as a team. Because the show’s cancellation came as a last-minute decision from the higher-ups at CBS, the S.W.A.T. series finale certainly left a bit to be desired, a sentiment that Ritch teased to TV Line ahead of the finale, revealing:

“I’ll say this: It will make you not want this show to end. You’ll want to keep watching what happens. There are so many avenues and directions to go, so many stories to tell, so many personal things… It will leave you wanting so much more.”

‘S.W.A.T.’s New Lease on Life

Luckily for those who weren’t quite ready to say farewell to Moore’s Hondo, there’s yet another chapter on the way with the off-shoot project titled S.W.A.T.: Exiles. Now filming, the title will see Hondo move away from the familiar faces from the flagship series and introduce fans to a new lineup of main players in what’s being described as the procedural’s take on Top Gun: Maverick. From this description, we can surmise that Hondo is going to take on a mentor role to a group of up-and-coming professionals who will turn to him for advice, training, and plenty of life lessons.

As of right now, no cameos or supporting performances from the original crew have been announced, but the folks behind the spin-off certainly aren’t ruling anything out, with Sony Pictures Television Chairman, Keith LeGoy, previously commenting,

There is a S.W.A.T family and that family is important. We would love to have other family members involved in some way, whether it’s all of them all of the time, some of them some of the time, or something in between. That’s something that we are still figuring out.”

Head over to Netflix to see how the original series ended when S.W.A.T. Season 8 arrives on September 15.

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