S.W.A.T.’s third cancellation may have hit the 2025 TV schedule hard, but the show will live on through the surprise spinoff, S.W.A.T. Exiles, from Sony Pictures Television. The 10-episode series will see a new team of recruits taking down criminals, and Shemar Moore will be returning as Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson. However, some of the OG cast members have shared their disappointment over not being asked back, such as Jay Harrington. Now, Sony TV is revealing what the chances are of seeing more of 20-Squad return for this new series.
Along with Harrington, David Lim also talked about the sting of the cancellation and hearing about the spinoff that will not include most of the cast. Fans are also probably sad because it seems like some of their favorite characters won’t be coming back. However, don’t count them out just yet. Sony Pictures Television chairman Keith LeGoy said at the Banff TV Festival (via Deadline) that they are figuring out a way to reunite the S.W.A.T. family:
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.
Even though S.W.A.T. was initially billed to really focus on Hondo, the show certainly shifted its focus to all of 20-Squad and showed just how much of a family they are. The two-hour finale fittingly highlighted the fact that 20-Squad is a family, making it hard to believe that Hondo would work with a new team, even if he did retire (which is more unbelievable) and was forced out of retirement. So, it was shocking to learn that the original cast might not return for this new show. However, Sony's latest comments give me hope.
Although there may be some hard feelings about how the spinoff was handled, it sounds like Sony is trying to bring back other cast members.
It can be assumed that there will be a time jump from the end of S.W.A.T. to the beginning of S.W.A.T. Exiles, given the fact that retirement wasn’t even on Hondo’s mind when the CBS procedural ended. So, at the bare minimum, it could be easy to explain where 20-Squad is, who is still around, what everyone is doing, and whether or not they still keep in touch with each other. Even though it won’t be close to the same, Exiles could at the very least provide updates on all of 20-Squad, including Chris, Street, and Luca.
However, I'm now slightly more hopeful that we'll see a few familiar faces alongside Moore in this new show.
Other than the basic logline that explains that a mission went wrong and Hondo is forced out of retirement to lead a new team of recruits, there isn’t much known about Exiles. The show has yet to find a home, but filming is expected to kick off this summer, meaning it shouldn’t be long until it gets shopped around. It’s exciting that S.W.A.T. will live on with another series, and I can only hope that Shemar Moore is not the only cast member returning.
It might be a bit early to predict whether any other OGs will join Moore, but knowing that Sony is thinking about it makes things a little better. If anything, fans can always take a look back at our favorite 20-Squad moments with a Netflix subscription or Paramount+ subscription.
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