Cancellation season was a brutal one this year, with networks slashing favorites left and right, regardless of how safe their futures may have felt to fans. Over at CBS, the axe was given to The Equalizer, FBI: International and more, with the long-running procedural S.W.A.T. finally wearing out its welcome after two previous cancellations were overturned. In the days that followed the announcement, S.W.A.T. fans rallied around the eight-season-running series and asked that CBS give it just one more shot. Although their cries fell on deaf ears, Sony was prepared to answer the call and quickly got an off-shoot up and running. Titled S.W.A.T. Exiles, the show will follow Shemar Moore’s Hondo as he enters a new chapter in his life.
So, when can audiences expect to see Hondo and the new cast of characters to arrive on their screens? Well, according to Sony Pictures TV president, Katherine Pope, cameras will be picking up soon. Recently speaking with Variety, she said, “We’re planning start production end of August, so, we’re moving!”
Delivering even better news, Pope said that she and the rest of the folks at Sony are doing everything in their power to keep the crew, who have dedicated just short of a decade of their lives, to bringing S.W.A.T. to television screens everywhere. Revealing their plans to keep as many people onboard as possible, she added,
“That’s really an important piece of this whole thing. The crew, and looking around at our city and our business and realizing, we have to keep our community healthy. We shoot a couple of shows on our lot, and S.W.A.T. has always shot at the same stages in Santa Clarita. A big piece of why we wanted to greenlight so quickly is to try to keep our community working.”
What Will ‘S.W.A.T. Exiles’ Be About?
Shifting gears from one group of protectors to the next, the early descriptions of S.W.A.T. Exiles inform us that Moore’s Hondo will be training a group of greenhorns. He’ll use his know-how from years of work in the field to instill the skills, courage, and strength that the up-and-comers will need in order to pull off the same number of saves as the original crew. As of right now, no other performers from the flagship series have been announced to be joining the cast, but the plot description certainly leaves the door open for the idea.
Stay tuned to Collider for more to come from S.W.A.T. Exiles.
Source: Variety
