‘S.W.A.T.’ Adds to 20-Squad: Plus, More Details About Season 8

S.W.A.T. is one of those rare shows that has been un-canceled—and not just once, but twice! And because of that, the CBS drama will be part of the network’s fall 2024 lineup.

S.W.A.T., following the elite tactical team in Los Angeles, was first canceled after its sixth season, only for that decision to be reversed days later with a renewal for a seventh and final season. However, then in April, CBS announced that it had once again reversed its decision and S.W.A.T. would be returning for an eighth season.

“We won this fight,” star and executive producer Shemar Moore told TV Insider soon after the announcement. “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,” says Moore. “It’s business, and you can’t take it personal, but sometimes you do a little bit because you’re so passionate about something.”

But will Season 8 now be S.W.A.T.‘s last? Who’s returning? Read on for everything we know so far.

Did the Season 8 save change anything about the Season 7 finale?

Shockingly no! News of the renewal came near the end of filming Season 7 and surprisingly, nothing had to be changed as a result.

Bill Inoshita/Sony Pictures Television/CBS

“This is how determined and in sync the crew, but especially the writers [are],” Moore told TV Insider. “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 this will be our new beginning.”

Executive producer Andrew Dettmann echoed that while discussing the Season 7 finale with TV Insider. “We sort of strategically had planned the finale that it might tip into a Season 8. That’s why even the whole season was engineered that way, where Hondo and the 20 squad were put under all these additional pressures and stresses, the team falling apart like Tan and Alfaro not getting along. Luca and Street gone, the community turning on Hondo in the penultimate episode. So it was all sort of geared toward, we’ll end with a big upswing at the end of the finale just in case there’s a Season 8,” he explained. “And so it worked either way. It either worked to lead us into Season 8, or it left us in a great position, if we were really saying goodbye, to go out on an up notion, then tell the audience that 20 squad will always be there, S.W.A.T. will always be there to fight crime for L.A.”

Who will be returning for S.W.A.T. Season 8?

Moore, Jay Harrington (Deacon), David Lim (Tan), Patrick St. Esprit (Hicks), and Anna Enger Ritch (Powell) will all be back.

Niko Pepaj, who has recurred as Alfaro and worked with the team (and clashed with Tan), has been upped to series regular, according to Deadline.

Who’s not returning in Season 8?

Rochelle Aytes (Nichelle) will no longer be a series regular, Deadline reports. But she could still appear in a recurring capacity. Also not returning are Alex Russell (Street) and Kenny Johnson (Luca), who were written out in Season 7; the former transferred to Long Beach, while the latter retired after a serious injury stopping a robbery while off-duty. But Dettmann hasn’t ruled out a return from either or both.

“I would love to see them back,” he told TV Insider. “The one heartbreaking thing was when we were told this is the end, Season 7, giving Street and Alex that goodbye, making part of Long Beach PD, giving Luca that heartbreaking goodbye that Kenny played so well, those seemed like great story opportunities that the writers were clamoring to do, but now it’s like, oh boy, we wrote them out.”

He continued, “There’s no reason why LAPD couldn’t do a case with the Long Beach PD in which we can bring Street back. I am hoping Alex, who plays Street. also directs for us. I don’t have my directors’ list for Season 8 yet because that’s a complicated process, but I would love if Alex came back to direct, and if I can convince him to step in front of the camera too, I’ll do that. And the same with Kenny. I adore Kenny. We all parted on really good terms. He was so happy with the episodes that he got and his goodbye. So yeah, I hope so. I’d love to see both of them back again.”

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Who’s joining the cast?

Annie Ilonzeh will recur as Devin Gamble, reports Deadline. She “was born into an L.A. family deeply entrenched in crime, leaving her with a fierce determination to break free of her blood legacy. She thought she’d achieved that, becoming a standout as an LAPD rookie… until her father’s arrest for a heinous crime cast a shadow Gamble could only escape by leaving LA for the Oakland PD,” reads the character’s description. “Now, a decade later, Hondo brought Gamble back home to become an integral new member of 20-Squad, knowing her inner strength, intuition, and street smarts will make her an invaluable part of the team.”

This isn’t too surprising; Season 7 ended with Hicks giving Hondo carte blanche to fill the open slot on 20-Squad. Dettmann confirmed after the finale that Hondo did have an idea who he wanted. “I think Hondo has somebody in mind. I think because he got the carte blanche and because he’s kind of thinking of somebody, I don’t know exactly who yet, but I think it allows us to bring in somebody that might not be an obvious choice, that might be, even from Hicks perspective, a little bit controversial, but Hicks isn’t going to go back on his word,” the EP said to TV Insider. “So whoever Hondo brings in, we all know Hondo wouldn’t do that for the wrong reasons. So we’re going to trust Hondo. Whoever he brings in as a sixth member of 20 squad’s going to be somebody that Hondo is invested in and wants to see succeed.”

When will Season 8 premiere?

The first episode of S.W.A.T. Season 8 will air on Friday, October 18 in its usual 8/7c slot. It will be followed by the premieres of Fire Country Season 3 and Blue Bloods Season 14 Part 2 (its final episodes).

Is S.W.A.T. ending with Season 8?

CBS did not say it’s the final season when it renewed it for Season 8, and Moore is optimistic that it will continue. “It really feels like not just that we survived—and obviously, I’m biased—but we’re still growing,” he told TV Insider in April.

“People are still getting wind of our show and flocking to our show, so now maybe Season 8 will be the last year, and if so, that’s okay,” he continued. “That’s okay because we won this fight, this impossible fight. But maybe there’s [Season] 9, maybe there’s 10. We don’t know, but I know that all of us involved aren’t worried about getting canceled anymore. We’re so proud of winning, and we know nothing lasts forever. And one day, it will end. And if that’s after Season 8, we’re going to throw one hell of a party, hug it out, and then figure out our next chapters. But we don’t know until we get there.”