Fans begged the show’s writers not to let him leave, but details about the rest of Season 7 suggest there might already be a twist in the works.
The show was recently renewed for another season – despite its current season originally set to be its last.
SWAT was canceled last year after Season 6 but that decision was reversed just a few days later.
CBS announced that while the action drama wouldn’t end with Season 6, it was only being renewed for one more season and would end with Season 7.
Earlier this month, after campaigning from both fans and the show’s star Shemar Moore (who plays Hondo), CBS once again un-canceled the show and renewed it for a Season 8.
As the writers had to plan for the strong possibility that that wouldn’t happen, this season was being written as if it was the last.
That included a few major storylines, including the exits of Kenny Johnson’s Dominique Luca and Alex Russell’s Jim Street.
Now, fans believe a third character this season is leaving the show.
David “Deacon” Kay (played by Jay Harrington), has been part of the S.W.A.T. team since the very beginning of the show, but he recently told his colleagues that he planned to retire.
He told Hondo that he decided with his wife Annie that it was time for him to leave S.W.A.T. and spend more time at home.
Deacon promised to stay just long enough to help the team transition to a world without him, and that transition appeared to come to a close in Friday’s episode.
‘Could be a new hello!’ SWAT’s Shemar Moore teases of possible Season 8 despite show’s cancellation announcement
It seemed the last piece of the puzzle before he felt comfortable retiring was to find someone to take over for him at the S.W.A.T. Academy.
He asked his team member Tan (David Lim) to take on the role and, after some hesitation, Deacon was eventually able to convince him to do so.
At the very end of the episode, Hondo opened up Deacon’s locker to find that it had been cleaned out and only his badge had been left behind.
Fans took this to mean Jay’s character was gone and not coming back.
One upset viewer begged on X (formerly Twitter), “Ohhh please don’t let Deacon leave!!!”
“What if Deacon can work part-time for #SWATcbs,” a second wondered, before adding, “He can be there for both families, his family too!”
“Street, Luca, and now Deacon gone,” a third fan said. “20 Squad going to look a whole lot different in Season 8.”
“Geez writers, stop forcing Deacon to retire,” another social media user begged. “He deserves to run his own squad.”
“I am so sad to Deacon go, next to Hondo he was my favorite character,” one angry viewer said.
While fans believe Deacon is leaving the show for good, there are a couple of clues that could point otherwise.
The synopsis for the May 10 episode confirmed the character will at least be back for one more episode this season.
The logline revealed Deacon is brought back in to help out with an “escalating crisis.”
While temporarily back,”he’s forced to confront nagging doubts about his retirement.”
Along with tease about Jay’s character possibly reversing his retirement decision in the upcoming episode, the actor himself gave a clue about his future on the show.
When the show was renewed earlier this month for another season, he celebrated on social media and appeared to suggest he’d be involved.
“SEASON 8 is official!!! can’t thank @swatcbs fans enough,” Jay wrote on Instagram, before adding, “22 more episodes coming your way… let’s roll.”
