‘S.W.A.T. Exiles’ Boss & Star Break Down Mole Reveal: ‘It Had the Most Conflict’

There’s a lot stacked against the new team of recruits that Hondo (Shemar Moore) is now leading on S.W.A.T. Exiles. But one of them is spying on him — and the premiere actually reveals who! TV Insider spoke with the star who plays that character as well as executive producer Jason Ning about that and more. Warning: Spoilers for the S.W.A.T. Exiles series premiere ahead!

It’s in the final scene of the first episode of the S.W.A.T. spinoff that one of the recruits, Malik (Adain Bradley), meets with a mysterious woman and is given a file. He says that Hondo doesn’t deserve the badge or the command and he’s going to make sure the whole world knows it.

“We knew since there is a mole, audiences are really smart and advanced, and so we didn’t want to hold that from [them] too long,” Ning explained.

As for why Malik, out of all the recruits that were in there, when crafting the character. “What I didn’t want was just to cast five different versions of young rookies, so each one of these characters brings their own kind of exiled status to them. And what was interesting about Malik is, in a way, his background is very similar to Hondo’s, and so in a way he’s a mirror to Hondo or young Hondo,” the EP told TV Insider. “And so as far as the characters that I thought would be most interesting to have this agenda, the one that represents Hondo, or a younger version, felt like it had the most conflict and the most story to explore.”

Malik may have been revealed to be the mole, but his motivations are very much a secret. “Hondo and Malik mirror each other in a lot of ways, both from the same neighborhood, both former Marines. And I think that Malik thinks he’s coming from a very just place. Malik lives a lot in black and white. He’s a little more naive than Hondo,” Bradley said. “He hasn’t lived his full life, like Hondo has. Hondo attempts to teach him that a lot of life happens in the gray. So you kind of see that divide and that clash. And I think that from Malik’s perspective, he doesn’t necessarily understand, and hopefully he gets educated through the season.”

Starz

Added Ning, “All I can say is that Malik definitely believes exactly what he’s saying in that moment, and we’ll understand why he’s saying that in that moment, and that’ll be unveiled.”

Might this connect back to Nico Reyes, the young member of S.W.A.T. who died in a raid that led to Hondo being forced out (he refused to let footage of what happened disappear)? All the executive producer would say is, “Let’s just say it’s all tied together. The story does have a satisfying ending that ties up all those points.”

He’s also keeping exactly who that woman is Malik met with under wraps. “All I can say is that she’s an operator,” Ning shared. “The idea for that character, I love the movie Inside Man, and Jodie Foster‘s a fixer character in that. And so she’s an archetype of that character, but she’s definitely tied into the overarching mythology for the whole season. And as we get into the episodes, more and more will be doled out on who she is and her part in the conspiracy.”

According to Bradley, Malik’s not sure how much he can trust her. “I don’t know that he knows too much, and I think he’s just trying to find his way. And to be honest, I think he’s most worried about whether or not he can trust himself,” he added.

Before the mole reveal, Hondo finds out that Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit), who brought him back to S.W.A.T. and whose name all over the recruits’ files made the sergeant aware they had been doctored; he never would have given him that team.

“That’s all tied into this,” teased Ning.

Hondo doesn’t know about the mole (yet) but he does know that there’s someone powerful downtown making moves, and he’s done being a pawn. He’s determined to bury that person. It’s just something else against him.

Related

'S.W.A.T. Exiles': Shemar Moore Reveals Why He Likes Hondo's Life Is Now 'Darker'

“That’s part of what’s driving him so hard, and it’s what’s fueling some of that anger and bitterness that perhaps is part of this larger conspiracy. And so that is part of what’s his driving motivation is figuring this out because every time he feels like he figures something out, another wall or another obstacle comes in front of him,” the EP said. “And so that frustration is just used as motivation for driving his character forward.”

While the focus of S.W.A.T. Exiles is on the new team, one of Hondo’s former teammates, Deacon (Jay Harrington), does appear, acting as a sounding board. But it feels like, to us, that it’s just a matter of time before he gets in on the action.

“The goal was never to erase the original show, but we also didn’t want to just do Season 9 of S.W.A.T. So, the great thing is that we have this opportunity — you’ll get to see important characters from that world, and we’d love to bring people back when the story warrants it, but we are asking audiences to invest in a new show, so we have to earn that by building this team’s identity first,” Ning told us. “And so I don’t want somebody walking through the door simply so the audience can say, ‘Hey, I remember them.’ If we bring someone back, which we do, the story will demand it. And so that appearance has to land emotionally. It takes a little time for us to have those building blocks set up, but all I can say is original cast members do and will return, but not just for cameos’ sake. It has to have an emotional impact, and I think we’ve done that well this season.”

Rochelle Aytes won’t be in the first season. The premiere revealed that Hondo and Nichelle are divorced. This season will reveal why.

“Because of the dark place that Hondo ended up, their marriage wasn’t able to survive that, but I’m hopeful that ultimately, they will ultimately end up back together,” admitted Ning. “The other issue was Rochelle was working on another show up in Vancouver at the time, but it actually just happened to work with the story we were telling, that it felt more organic that their relationship hadn’t survived this dark place he’d gone to in the time since the old show ended and our show begins.”