Why Is Luca Leaving S.W.A.T.? The Final Season Twist *No One* Saw Coming

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CBS’ S.W.A.T. is preparing to take its final bow, but one major character will be saying goodbye earlier than expected. Is Dominique Luca leaving S.W.A.T.? Keep reading to find out what will happen with Kenny Johnson’s character on the seventh and final season. 

S.W.A.T. is CBS’ police procedural drama following Sergeant II Daniel “Hondo” Harelson (played by The Young and the Restless alum Shemar Moore), a former marine who’s hired to lead a new “last stop” Special Weapons and Tactics unit of the Los Angeles Police Department. The series is based on the 1975 series and the 2003 movie of the same name. Rounding out the cast is Johnson as Dominique Luca, Alex Russell as Jim Street, Jay Harrington as David Kay, David Lim as Victor Tan, Patrick St. Esprit as Robert Hicks, Anna Enger Ritch as Zoe Powell and Rochelle Aytes as Nichelle Carmichael.

The series first premiered in 2017 and was briefly canceled by CBS in May 2023. A few days later, the network reversed its decision and renewed the show for a seventh and final season, which premiered on Feb. 16, 2024.

The 13-episode season will give the show and its characters a proper ending, however, one original character’s ending will come early on in the season. Played by Kenny Johnson, Dominique Luca will be leaving the show within the first few episodes of Season 7. We have all the details on his exit below.

Is Dominique Luca leaving S.W.A.T.?

Is Dominique Luca leaving S.W.A.T.? The answer is yes. Kenny Johnson, who has been a series regular on the show since Season 1, will say goodbye earlier than the rest of the cast and will only recur on Season 7. 

Johnson stars as Dominique Luca, the third-in-command of Hondo’s team and the driver of the team’s armored vehicle, nicknamed Black Betty. He is also a third generation SWAT member and his grandfather was actually on one of the LAPD’s first-ever SWAT teams in the 1970s. Luca has become a fan-favorite on the show and fans will be surprised to learn that his time on the final season will be brief.

While speaking to TVLine ahead of the Season 7 premiere, showrunner Andrew Dettmann explained that this decision was made in order to give Luca a satisfying ending. “Looking at [Season 7] being the final 13 [episodes], we wanted to give everybody their proper curtain call,” he explained. “So the episodes that we have for them are really focused on their characters and the evolution of their storylines.”

In addition to Luca, original cast member Alex Russell, who stars as Jim Street, was also demoted to recurring and will make his exit early on. Dettmann noted that the first few episodes will focus on Street and Luca. “I’m really excited about the episodes we have for [Luca and Street],” he explained. “The idea for the final 13 was that, if this was the end for us, nobody feels like they were underserved. There are some really good episodes for Alex and Kenny, for Street and Luca.”

On Feb. 12, 2024, Johnson revealed on Instagram that he had finished filming his last episode of S.W.A.T. Alongside a video of him and Shemar Moore on location at the Santa Monica beach, he wrote: “Just finishing my last episode of SWAT !! It’s been an amazing journey Here we are !! Love all of you for the support of the past 7 years Thank you !!!❤️🙏💫☮️🌈.”

S.W.A.T. airs on Fridays on CBS at 8/7c and streams on Paramount+.

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