Shemar Moore Talks ‘S.W.A.T’ Finale & Possible Return Of Kenny Johnson And Alex Russell

Shemar Moore was celebrating the renewal of S.W.A.T in a big way last night at the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration in Hollywood.

Moore has portrayed series lead Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson across the show’s 7 seasons and serves as a producer. S.W.A.T is a procedural drama that follows Hondo, a Los Angeles S.W.A.T. Sargent who balances loyalty to the job and the streets where he grew up. The show airs new episodes Friday at 8 p.m.

Following 6 seasons, CBS announced in 2023 that the series was canceled before the network reversed its decision opting to renew the show for a seventh and final season which premiered earlier this year. Following an impassioned campaign led by Moore and the drama’s devoted fans, CBS uncanceled the show once more announcing last month they’d ordered an eighth season.

So when the show concludes its seventh season on May 17, know that the finale was treated as a possible series end.

“We were smart,” Moore told Deadline on the red carpet about how the Season 7 finale was handled with the show’s fate up in the air. “At the tail end of the strike, me and the producers and the writers got together at my house and I said, ‘Ok, what are we going to do this year?’ I said, ‘If this is it, let’s go out with a bang. Let’s give them our signature. Let’s give them the action: helicopters, chase scenes, motorcycle chases, fight scenes, Hondo sprinting through an alley. Let’s rock them.'”

He added, “We have three episodes left to finish [airing] this season. So when you get to the finale, you’ll see we shaped it in a way that it’s either our swan song or our new beginning. We literally didn’t change anything in the writing.”

Kenny Johnson and Alex Russell, who played Officer Dominique Luca and Officer Jim Street, respectively, said goodbye to the series following 7 seasons this year. Moore addressed whether or not the pair could return now that S.W.A.T has been renewed.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to a bunch of wonderful people. Alex Russell, Kenny Johnson and a couple of seasons back we lost Lina Esco,” he said. “Change is hard; so now we have some OGs, myself as Hondo, Deacon [Jay Harrington], Hicks [Patrick St. Esprit], Tan [David Lim] and some newbies. But regarding those people that you miss, nobody died. And in the world of Hollywood, anything can happen.”

Watch our interview below.

Shemar Moore teases the ‘S.W.A.T.’ finale & saying goodbye to Alex Russell and Kenny Johnson pic.twitter.com/G1wUg7E84T

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 3, 2024