Summary

S.W.A.T.
defied cancelation twice, thanks in part to star Shemar Moore’s advocacy for the show.
Season 7 was meant to be the end, but the Season 8 renewal leaves Moore feeling “humbled.”
Despite the setup for the series finale,
S.W.A.T.
plans to continue with logical storytelling in Season 8.

It is not unheard of for shows to be canceled once and manage to find a way back to screens, but S.W.A.T. has joined the exclusive group of “Houdini” shows to have avoided the ax twice. That has been reason enough for the crime drama’s star Shemar Moore to celebrate, which he has been able to do for a second time in quick succession after seeing the show being brought back from the brink a second time.

S.W.A.T. was originally set to end after Season 6, but Moore publicly called the move a mistake by CBS, and it seems that someone agreed with him. The show was commissioned for a seventh season, which was billed as the final season and therefore came with a story that matched the reported ending of the series. As Moore told TV Insider before the latest renewal:

“We won this fight. Let’s go out swinging. Let’s just make 13 incredible episodes. So if it is over, we can feel proud of what we’ve accomplished, but if we do it so well and we just keep that fight alive, maybe at the end of this, we can give them something to think about.”

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And give them something to think about Moore and the rest of the cast did. Unexpected to not only fans but Moore himself, the Season 8 renewal has left him feeling “humbled” and “proud.” He said:

“I’m super, super geeked. I’m so excited, so proud, humbled, and I’m still pinching myself because it’s kind of a miracle. It’s business, and you can’t take it personally, but sometimes you do a little bit because you’re so passionate about something.”

S.W.A.T. Season 7 Says Goodbye to Many Characters

Following the eventual renewal of S.W.A.T. for its seventh season, the expectation of everyone was that this would be it for the series. For that reason, the main purpose of the 13 episodes was to give the characters the kind of ending that many long-running shows don’t get the luxury of when the plug is unexpectedly pulled on them.

In the case of S.W.A.T., things have worked the opposite thanks to the Season 8 renewal, with several characters having already departed, and the season finale being set up as the end of an era for those who remain. However, even though the new renewal reportedly came just a week before it was announced, Moore believes that there is a logical way for the new season to pick things up again. He added:

“What’s crazy is we’ve had to change nothing – absolutely nothing. We wrote this show to where it could be a farewell goodbye. When you get up to the finale, you’ll see when you watch it, you’ll go, oh, this was their way of saying goodbye. But it was also our way of saying we could still keep going. We said, this will either be our goodbye or thing will be our new beginning.”

Related S.W.A.T.: How the CBS Police Drama Explores Polyamory with Respect and Grace S.W.A.T. explores a relationship dynamic that is still somewhat taboo for primetime TV procedural — the throuple.

We now know that it will be the latter for the S.W.A.T. team, but how long their reprieve lasts is something that is clearly in the hands of audiences. Make the new season a runaway success, and it seems unlikely that the series will have just one encore. With CBS having recently canceled another popular crime drama, CSI: Vegas, it seems that S.W.A.T.’s continuation could benefit from those looking for their crime fix on the network next year.

S.W.A.T.
is currently airing new episodes from Season 7, with the finale arriving on May 17.