Following S.W.A.T.'s third cancellation (which happened in 2025) the franchise is preparing to make yet another comeback. Right around the time the series finale aired, Sony Pictures Television revealed it would officially be developing a spinoff series called S.W.A.T. Exiles. It was also confirmed at the time that Shemar Moore would reprise his role as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson. Now, the show's inaugural 10-episode season has apparently wrapped, and Moore took some time to celebrate the accomplishment.
Production on S.W.A.T. Exiles kicked off over the summer, and we can now thank Moore for the apparent confirmation that the show has wrapped filming. The Criminal Minds alum took to his Instagram Stories on Friday to share the great news from what appeared to be a wrap party. He thanked the cast and crew and seemed as excited as ever to have the first season in the can. Check out the post:
Considering Moore was a big advocate for S.W.A.T.’s renewal, going back to its first cancellation, it makes sense that he’s making sure to document this new chapter. Even though it’s currently unknown if the show will even find a distributor, Exiles' completion is still a big milestone, especially considering the fact that Season 8 of the OG show was supposed to end the franchise. Now, with filming completed on the spinoff, I have to wonder if this might aid Sony's attempts to sell the show to some entity (if it hasn't already).
After S.W.A.T. Exiles was announced, the spinoff reportedly caused some big behind-the-scenes drama. Some OG cast members spoke out about not being tapped to return for the series. The show also caught flak from due to Moore being the only franchise veteran to return full time.
Moore later got very honest on social media, as he's historically done, saying he wasn’t apologizing “for nothing.” At the same time, much of the crew that worked on S.W.A.T. and lived in LA were able to keep their jobs for Exiles. Plus, some OGs are in fact returning, such as Jay Harrington as well as Patrick St. Esprit and David Lim, who was recently announced.
Exiles will focus on Hondo coming out of retirement to return to action, and it’s unknown how much time will have passed since the events of the parent show. It also remains to be seen if any unresolved storylines from the OG series will continue on the spinoff. At the very least, I'm hopeful that fans will receives updates on the rest of the 20-Squad family throughout the first season.
As a longtime S.W.A.T. fan, I am definitely sharing Moore’s excitement about Exiles. I am a bit on the fence, strictly because I don’t know how it’s going to go and a lot of familiar faces are gone. Still, I'm just loving that this franchise gets to continue in some form. Of course, to that point, let's hope that Sony TV manages to finalize a place for this show to air. In the meantime, stream all eight seasons of S.W.A.T. now using a Netflix subscription.
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