Come what could, Shemar Moore isn’t the form of man who offers up on his squad! When S.W.A.T. was set to finish with the present’s seventh season, the 53-year-old mentioned he was nonetheless holding out a tiny sliver of hope that the sequence may discover a option to proceed.
Lo and behold, on April 12, CBS introduced that it had renewed the sequence after it was initially canceled, marking the second time this has occurred to the sequence after it was canceled then renewed in 2023 for the seventh season. The upcoming season 8 is ready to consist of twenty-two episodes.
After the information of the present’s renewal, ET’s Denny Directo sat down with Moore, who stars as Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson on the sequence along with government producing it, throughout which the daddy of 1 shared his gratitude for the surprising continuation and revealed how he maintained religion within the present.
“It is a miracle, man. I am pinching myself and I am exhausted,” Moore tells ET when requested about how he is dealing with the reversal of the present’s cancellation. “Belief me. I am drained but it surely’s a great form of drained.”
The star, who turns 54 on April 20, quips that filming the sequence is “no joke” and takes quite a lot of physicality along with the emotional work of performing.
“We’re working round in all our gear, chasing dangerous guys, flying round in helicopters, hanging off tankers, blowing up buildings, automobile chases, [and] combating,” Moore particulars. Though he admits that the work is “mad enjoyable,” he provides that “it is quite a lot of hours.”
As a former youngster who loved taking part in “cops and robbers within the yard,” Moore says he is realized to “watch out what you would like for.” He is pleased to be a “grown ass man” that will get paid to chase fictional dangerous guys “and be a superhero,” however the star jokingly says that it is rather a lot on his growing old bones!
Nonetheless, there is no hiding Moore’s pleasure at attending to return to his second favourite job — the primary is being a dad to daughter, Frankie, after all.
After the information of the present’s renewal was introduced, Moore posted on Instagram, writing, “Thanks to ALL my HOMIES, FANS, n BABY GIRLS!!!”
He additionally posted a photograph of the S.W.A.T. solid — which incorporates Jay Harrington, David Lim, Patrick St. Esprit, Rochelle Aytes and Anna Enger Ritch — holding up eight fingers to rejoice the information.
“That is actually vital for me to say; I’m so pleased with myself, I’m so pleased with my present, my co-stars [and] my crew,” Moore tells ET. “250 to 300 those that present up day-after-day [and] sacrifice, you realize, they do not get to see their households [all the time]. We’re like a second household for one another. This, getting canceled [and] uncanceled twice, is a testomony to all of the laborious work we pull off.”
When Moore spoke with ET in February about what was — on the time — the ultimate season, he seemingly predicted the sequence’ comeback.
“Oh man, it has been such a great run. And, you realize, that is my thirtieth yr within the recreation, so I pinch myself,” Moore informed ET on the time. “[It’s been] seven years of a extremely enjoyable present. And the phrase on the road is it is our last season — however, you realize, I am an optimist.”
He even teased on the time, “We hate to see it go. However once more, I am not fairly certain it is the tip, however that is simply me,” including, “I do know that the door shouldn’t be fully closed.”
On the time, Moore was hopeful that by premiering season 7 after the Tremendous Bowl, the present’s numbers would encourage the community to offer them one other season.
“If the numbers are good, perhaps we’ll change some minds and perhaps we will carry on trucking,” Moore mentioned, including that when it got here to saving the present from cancellation the primary time, “I do know the followers made noise… I feel they had been an enormous a part of it.”
So, after all, Moore has to offer props to the followers of the CBS sequence now that the present shall be coming again. “I’ve to say, the followers on the market all over the world…they confirmed up for us on Netflix. We had been primary for a second, then we had been high 10, high 20, trending, after which this yr, we had been left for useless. We had been left for useless. And week after week, the numbers had been simply there,” he says.
“Then I ran my mouth a bit of bit on social media and mentioned, ‘Look, numbers matter. Numbers matter.’ And never solely did they present up and watch, however they wrote letters to CBS and Sony and mentioned, ‘Do not take our present away,'” Moore continues. “And what I informed our present this yr was like, ‘Look, they informed us we’re accomplished. And which may be true, and we will maintain our heads up excessive.’ However [to use a] boxing analogy, while you get sucker-punched — as a result of getting canceled final yr felt like a sucker-punch and it [put] us on a knee. However my mom, could she relaxation in peace, she at all times mentioned, ‘Rise up.'”
Moore recollects giving the solid and crew an identical speech after the cancellation, encouraging his work household to carry their heads up excessive regardless of their worries.
“I mentioned, ‘Look, we could also be on a knee, however we will stand up and we will battle. We should still lose however we will battle till we hear that bell,'” he says. “After which that bell got here, and we received.”
New episodes of S.W.A.T. air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
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