It was a shock to everyone, including the cast, when S.W.A.T. Exiles was announced. The series, which will star Shemar Moore, will be a continuation of the beloved CBS series that ended on the 2025 TV schedule this spring. However, as of right now, Moore is the only returning cast member, and a few other actors have spoken out about this situation and their original show ending. Now, Jay Harrington is opening up about the show ending, why he thought things were still up in the air, and the spinoff continuing without him and his castmates.
The actor, who starred in 163 episodes of S.W.A.T. as Deacon, chatted with TV Line about the series' multiple cancellations and saves, as well as the new spinoff. He explained that there was no talk of a spinoff while they were filming the final season, and even during the final episode, he didn’t know about Exiles. However, he also hadn’t given up hope that the show could be saved, as he said:
Not at all. Because of the way things had happened over the years with [S.W.A.T.] being cancelled, coming back, I had the thought, ‘OK, we could come back.’ There’s a chance, you never say die, especially with the streaming world and such. My choices in my head were that, or it’s over. I did not have a spin-off on my bingo card, for sure.
As far as Harrington knew, S.W.A.T. was either going to continue or be one of the many shows ending in 2025. He was not aware of the spinoff that now has a ten-episode order.
He found out about Exiles three days before the finale (which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription) dropped in May. Explaining that it was Moore who told him about the plan to move forward, the actor said:
It was the day before. Shemar reached out to to all of us to say, ‘This is what’s going on…,’ and, you know, there’s talk that they’ll reach out to us about stuff. He wanted to be the one to tell us, and say ‘your reps will find out shortly.’ That’s when I told my reps, and they had no idea.
Other cast members have also spoken out about how swiftly this announcement happened. David Lim spoke about the spinoff, specifically noting that he would “be lying if [he] said the rollout of the new spinoff didn’t sting.”
Harrington made it clear that he understands that this kind of abrupt and surprising turnaround is commonplace in this business. He also explained how that mentality is impacting his feelings about S.W.A.T. really ending, saying:
Look, I’ll be very clear. I’ve been in this business for a long time. You don’t get ‘owed’ things just because you put in your time. If that’s the route they’re going to go, I wish it success. It’s just a fine line between ‘owed’ and ‘just let me know,’ for the studio just to say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking…. It’s a new idea, but this is the route we gotta go, and unfortunately the way it’s structured, we want to make a clean break, start fresh.’
However, while he noted that this kind of situation is the nature of the entertainment beast, he addressed the part of it that caused “disappointment.” Explaining that he was particularly hurt by the lack of mention toward the cast that worked on S.W.A.T. for years, he said:
Well, what do you say to that? ‘OK, well, good luck!’ So if there was any disappointment, it’s that when they announced it, we weren’t mentioned at all. That was it. And it was short-lived because I thought, ‘I’m not going to let that take away from what I know in my heart is eight years of putting in some great work.’
Harrington went on to say that while it did sting, he wasn’t going to let it dampen his positive feelings about the CBS drama. Plus, as he reiterated, “It’s show business.” He’s also thrilled that most of the OG show’s crew will return to work on the spinoff series. When it comes to his own involvement in S.W.A.T.'s continuation, he said, "Never say never."
Overall, this is a very emotional situation for many reasons. Jay Harrington made it clear that he thought the show might have a future, considering its history of being saved. However, it really ended this time; the spinoff was a shock, and the lack of mention about the cast that helped the original series reach the success it did was what bothered him most.
As he said in this interview, he gets the idea of a clean break and a new story. However, he wanted them to acknowledge the idea that “you can’t have that concept without the success of the former.”
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