Regular readers would be correct to observe that I’ve dedicated a disproportinate amount of musings to the foibles of S.W.A.T. Guilty as charged. It was a priority project when I was settling into my gig at Sony and getting it successfully renewed and sold was an ongoing battle pretty much through the end–and beyond. It’s had a downright Sisyphusian resillience through several regimes at both the studio and CBS that was at times rejuvenating and at others frustrating. When it was originally cancelled by the network’s then new leadership in spring 2023 it provided a noisy couple of days where the rank and file–namely, co-executive producer Shawn Ryan and lead Shemar Moore–successfully played every card in their decks to finally secure what we then supposed to be an abbreviated final season. But it actually performed above its own expectations and ahead of others in CBS’ quiver, so it got renewed again. Only when CBS was finally able to successfully launch what is now their COUNTRY (FIRE, SHERIFF) “franchise” was S.W.A.T. finally waved farewell to.
But even that didn’t deter Moore and his determined colleague from soldering on, surprising the industry on the eve of the 2025 LA screenings with a bold announcement for a spin-off called S.WA.T. EXILES that would continue the saga that got a firm global production commitment despite not even having a U.S. outlet. Moore, who was revealed as the architect and savior, used his vast social media footprint to personally kick off the sales efforts. As the eponymous Rick (THE HOLLYWOOD RE-)Porter wrote at the time:
Moore…called out potential new homes for the series: “Hey, Netflix, how you doing?” Moore said. “Netflix, if you’re interested in a show that is in autopilot that the world is watching, we’d love to come play. NBC, Fox, ABC, hey, you want to come flirt with me? You’re invited to the barbecue. Pick your favorite restaurant. I will pay the bill.”
Well, those expensive dinners may or may not happened, but all they apparently produced were some cases of heartburn. Because after more than a year of hondling very, very quietly this past June a deal was reached, and yesterday the trailer and official release date were amplified. Porter’s collague
Shemar Moore is back as S.W.A.T. sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson and seeking redemption as he trains LAPD misfits as a new unit in a S.W.A.T. Exiles trailer for the Starz spinoff series that dropped on Wednesday.
The series, set to bow on Sept. 25, centers on lead Moore, after a botched raid, having to take off his badge and walk away from the only life he had known. That’s until his old commanding officer, Robert Hicks, played by Patrick St. Esprit, offers him one last shot at redemption by launching the Exiles, a new S.W.A.T. unit.
That’s right, STARZ. The struggling and recently spun off pay TV network that Sony has helped keep relevant with its nichy OUTLANDER series that itself recently came to a conclusion and produced its own spin-off BLOOD OF MY BLOOD that otherwise has pivoted to a destination for ambitious content from African-American creators such as its POWER franchise and such diverse (word choice intentional) offerings as P-VALLEY, which explores the world of strip clubs in Mississippi and FIGHTLAND, a short-order effort about a boxer seeking redemption from 50 Cent–who just happens to be one of the architechts behind POWER. Intruging shows, to be sure. But nothing along the lines of a police procedural.
So how did this strange bedfellow partnership come to pass? From this vantage point, it’s more of a testimony to calling in favors than the merits of the project.
Based on what I know about S.W.A.T.’s enduring popularity with global networks and platforms that has been the cash cow that propelled Keith LeGoy to the chairmanship of Sony TV it’s clear that the decision to continue the series was driven by that upside. Indeed, there was enough demand for the spin-off–as well as the eight library seasons of the OG–for a two-season commitment to be secured (though that may be more media math machinations in splitting up a typical broadcast network production order into two scheduling arcs). That’s a rich ask for anyone to be tasked with–arguably even more daunting than the edict that his domestic chief Katherine Pope was tasked with that resulted in the drama of 2023. 
This time around Shawn Ryan was not involved in resurrecting a deal that Pope initially was ordered to walk from–it’s Moore and his cadre of compatriots that are the true drivers of this train. And according to ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s Leigh Blickley, they apparently forged ahead like, well, a S.W.A.T. team. Ram your way onto the scene and deal with the damage later.
“I’d be lying if I said the rollout of the new spinoff didn’t sting. It was tough to see it announced just two days after our finale—with no mention of the cast who helped build S.W.A.T. from day one,” star David Lim wrote on social media. “After 8 incredible seasons, it felt like we were brushed aside when there could’ve been a moment of reflection and recognition — for the people who built this show, and for the impact it had on so many.”
Fellow star Jay Harrington also revealed that “not once” was he notified of the spinoff until right before the S.W.A.T. finale. “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,” Harrington told TVLine in 2025.
“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,” Harrington said. “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.’ 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.’”
He added, “As a human being, of course you’re going to feel stung, but again, I didn’t want to go to that place because I thought, truthfully, ‘It’s show business.’ It’s a business.”
After the debacle, it was announced Harrington would reprise his role as Sgt. David “Deacon” Kay in the pilot of Exiles, alongside St. Esprit as Hicks. Lim will also return as Officer Victor Tan in the penultimate episode of season 1.
Well, that problem got solved, but the quietness that defined the entire production cycle would strongly suggest that what the broader and better-paying platforms were seeing was not moving them toward making a deal. That would include both the KPIs that Netflix, Hulu and Paramount Plus–all of which ran the original series at various times–were seeing, as well as the episodes already in production that undoubtedly were being screened by Pope and her sales heads.
Enter one Kathryn Busby, the current head of STARZ programming. And a former Sony executive who rose to the head of the boutique TriStar brand after a stint championing international-centric dramas such as ABSENTIA, the Central Europe-driven original for Sony’s networks in that part of the world that somehow convinced viewers that Bulgaria was Boston that has miraculously found a strong second window audience on Netflix after a mediocre domestic run on Prime Video. And yeah, someone who has more than a few mutual connections with and outsized admiration for Shemar Moore. Even I noticed the mutual flirting at previous screenings.
Far be it for me to assert that was the reason S.W.A.T. EXILES is coming to Starz. Busby is challenged with her own financial constraints and needs to find creative ways to put together a portfolio–especially now that her platform has been structurally separated from its parent, Lionsgate. FIGHTLAND is a co-production with Sky Atlantic, for example. But to deny the extent that personal connections and an equal level of need to make a deal that her fellow Kath was tasked with would be downright naive.
Frankly, I don’t fault either party for doing what they had to do. Say what one will about the potential and the sizzle that a piece of work like what was released yesterday suggests. For entities like Sony and Starz that operate on the fringes of an increasingly oligarchal industry it’s about survival first and foremost. Sony needed a U.S.-centric home with nominal enough standards and deep enough need to swallow a two-season commitment. Starz needed something that at least had recognizable names attached to it. Busby and Pope perhaps needed to pay their mortgages and maybe a couple more years of college for their kids. They’re not the first so motivated and they won’t be the last.
So yeah, let’s celebrate a series that effectively channels what its executives have demonstrated. Exiles getting one last chance at redemption. Glad you are getting your shot.
Until next time…