Shemar Moore Is Entering A Very Different Heroic Era With S.W.A.T. Exiles

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Published Sep 23, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Shemar Moore breaks down his journey as Hondo in S.W.A.T., how Exiles is launching an entirely new era for his character and the new team.

Shemar Moore is back as Hondo for S.W.A.T. Exiles, but he's bringing an entirely new feel to the iconic character.

After his back-to-back star-making turns in The Young and the Restless and Criminal Minds, Moore led the charge on bringing the iconic action franchise back to life with the CBS reboot series, starring as Daniel "Hondo" Harrleson Jr., a Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant promoted to lead team of titular officers following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Throughout S.W.A.T.'s original run, Hondo and his team not only engaged in a variety of cases to protect their city, but also dealt with a variety of personal hurdles, including the systemic racism and outdated relationships between the LAPD and various neighborhoods.

Despite its continued success in ratings, S.W.A.T. initially came to an end when CBS cancelled it after season 5, only for enough outpouring from fans and the creative team to secure a season 6 renewal. The same would happen for both seasons 7 and 8, with the latter ultimately bringing the show to an end, only for Sony TV to move ahead with a new spinoff just days after the series finale and cancellation by CBS.

Again led by Moore, S.W.A.T. Exiles is taking things in an entirely new direction for Hondo as he is brought out from his forced retirement by Patrick St. Esprit’s LAPD Commander Robert Hicks two years after the series finale's happy send-off for 20-Squad. Tasked with heading up a new, young team of untested officers, Hondo quickly determines that the team was handpicked to fail, and that there's a mole working against his new group, putting him in the most dangerous and twisted web of trust and action yet.

As part of our ongoing exclusive cover story coverage, ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns interviewed Shemar Moore to discuss S.W.A.T. Exiles. The Emmy winner reflected on his original reluctance to take on the role of Hondo in the original series, and how his mom helped encourage him to do so, while also teasing how the new spinoff series is twisting both his classic character and the formula of the action franchise, and the involvement he had in helping shape the new era of the series.

Shemar Moore Was On A Break From Hollywood When S.W.A.T. Came Calling

SWAT Exiles EXCLUSIVE Episode 107 SCREENRANT

In his 32-year acting career, Moore has remained one of the most consistently busy and popular stars on both the big and small screens. This all began with his time on CBS' Young and the Restless as Neil Winters' rebellious photographer brother, Malcolm, a role he played consistently for 11 years, and earned him two Daytime Emmy nominations and one win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

As Moore recalled, he decided to venture down to Los Angeles from his San Francisco Bay Area home in the hopes of launching his acting career, despite only having "$1,100 in my pocket." Arriving on Monday, April 4, Moore "spent $900 in two days with an acting coach" before his Young and the Restless audition that Sunday.

Shemar Moore: I just went into the audition and repeated everything he said, and they said, "You're green, you're nervous, but you've got good instincts, come back on Wednesday." On April 6, I went in for Bill Bell, the head of Young and the Restless, and they picked me. My first day of work was April 12, the following Monday. So, I had to drive back to San Francisco, tell my mom I'm going to be on TV, she said, "Baby, you don't know how to act," and I was like, "We're about to find out." [Laughs]

Moore's exit from the CBS soap opera saw him stay with the network as he became one of the key players on Criminal Minds, starring as fan-favorite BAU profiler Derek Morgan. Similarly spending 11 years with the series before departing, Moore recalled the decision as "very hard to do" after having "created a brotherhood and a sisterhood" on the still-running police procedural, and still hails it as a "huge opportunity for me."

But rather than immediately jump into a new series after Criminal Minds, Moore decided that "I needed a break from Hollywood," feeling he had to "reset and reboot" before progressing forward. Initially shifting back to film for his producorial debut on the well-received rom-com The Bounce Back — which Moore laments "didn't do well" due to a lack of proper distribution — the Emmy winner then decided to completely put things on pause for some travel.

Shemar Moore: I needed a break and I went to Australia and I hung out with the kangaroos. That's a true story, because I like to explore. My mother's in heaven now, but before she passed, she was like, "Don't ever lose that young boy who loves to explore," and those words — many words from her ring in my head, but I have a daughter now, so, with all this Hollywood stuff, it's great. But my favorite part in life is going to be when I can show my daughter the world, and show her what's out there.

During his time "hanging out in the Outback," Moore got an email from the team behind the original S.W.A.T. reboot that they were interested in bringing him onboard as Hondo, which came with the surprise that the character "was the No. 1 dude." But, delivering an even bigger kick to Moore's outlook was the fact that his immediate predecessor in the part was that of Samuel L. Jackson in the 2003 film, laughing as he confessed that "I ain't no Sam Jackson" and feeling that "I can't fill Sam Jackson's shoes."

And you had LL Cool J in there with Deacon, you had Michelle Rodriguez, you had Colin Farrell, who was a super stud. So, I was like, "Well, what do you mean?"

Despite the reservations, Moore came to learn that the new S.W.A.T. was hailing from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, mega-producer Neal H. Moritz and Fast and Furious vet Justin Lin, describing the trio as "heavyweights" that he was surprised to learn "they know I exist?!" Once he took the meeting, which he chuckled as he said "something went right" during it, the creative team had discussions with Moore to "get a sense of me," as well as "a sense of what I wanted, what my ambition was, what my character was."

As the successful meeting came to a close, Moore was thrown something of a curveball by Ryan, who asked him on his way out, "Do you like to work?" Once again inspired by his mother's words of wisdom, Moore responded to his showrunner honestly by expressing "you don't know me very well," and that "there is nothing handed to you in this game, or in life," and that if he got the part, he was "going to give you everything I've got physically, emotionally" and "spiritually."

Shemar Moore: And that's the way I've approached my life, let alone my career. There is nobody handing you s--t, so how bad do you want it? And if you want it that bad, go get it and, even if you fall down, you get up and you keep trying. So, I finally saw a script, and my mother was alive at the time, and I was at her house on the beach in Redondo, because I bought my mom a beach house because I'm a good son. [Laughs] She was right there on the ocean. She said, "Shemar, there's all these sweaty men playing volleyball on the beach." And I was like, "Have a nice day, Mama." [Laughs]

S.W.A.T. Won Moore Over In Less Than 20 Pages

SWAT Exiles EXCLUSIVE Cast Promo Photo SCREENRANT

With the S.W.A.T. pilot script in hand, Moore sat down to read the 60-page script at his mom's house at 9 a.m., and found himself blown away by the "19 pages of the opening," being floored by the material in which a "white cop shoots a Black kid, and now they're going to pick a Black man to be the leader of a S.W.A.T. team because of optics and politics." The Emmy winner was so thrilled he woke his mother up, eagerly telling her "there's something here," to which she gradually woke up and got her coffee to read said teaser.

Shemar Moore: We still had 35, 40 pages to go, and she looked at me in her Boston accent, and she said, "Shemar, oh, this is my son's show." We hadn't even read the rest of it, and then we read the rest of it, and it held on, it stayed true. But to work with Shawn Ryan, to work with Neal Moritz, with Justin Lin, Hondo having to defy the odds, Shemar Moore trying to prove that I can lead a show and lead a team. It was such an opportunity and I love challenges.

Moore acknowledged that going into S.W.A.T.'s eight-season run, there were elements that were "scary" to have to embrace. But, like an ever-present guardian angel on his shoulder, Moore recalled one of his mother's life lessons that "if you want it bad enough, and it scares you, you run at that wall of fear." Even while said wall might "knock you down," it's then up to one to "get your a-- back up, back up a couple steps and run at it again," and keep doing so "until you break through it, and that fear will become your confidence."

After having completed production on the S.W.A.T. pilot and getting a series order from CBS, Moore and his creative team then turned their focus to "we've got to be good enough to get a back nine," referring to full-season pickups networks give out to shows they're confident in. While season 1 actually earned two additional orders to bring it up to 22 episodes, Moore recalled there had always been a fear at the end of a season that "you didn't know if there was going to be another one," which ultimately proved true when they were cancelled by the network after season 6.

But the ride was there, the passion was there from us, and the passion was there from the fan base, and here we are with S.W.A.T. Exiles because of that passion, because of that fanfare that supported us from all over the world.

That didn't stop Moore, though, as he "said a few things on social media," to which the right "people listened" and S.W.A.T. got saved for a decidedly shorter season 7 to conclude the series. The Emmy winner chuckled as he recalled that "I ran my mouth on social media" after they initially didn't get a season 8 renewal, which proved successful, but "nothing lasts forever" and CBS said farewell to the action franchise in May 2025.

S.W.A.T. Exiles Is Taking Things In An "Intriguingly Different" Direction

But while CBS was ready to say goodbye, Moore, Sony TV and Moritz weren't as they quickly set about putting together S.W.A.T. Exiles, which the studio — on a "leap of faith" — made "for a bunch of millions of dollars with no home," as they "believed" in keeping the series alive in some capacity. Similarly calling himself "an optimistic dude," Moore was confident that "somebody would pick it up," with various platforms making bids for the sequel spinoff series.

The ultimate winner, who Moore says "had their head screwed on right," was that of Starz, making Exiles the first entry in the S.W.A.T. franchise to get a cable release instead of network TV. Moore hailed the network for picking the show up, being "so grateful" for their decision and being "excited about this new relationship," while wanting to then "rally the troops" when Starz elected to renew the spinoff for season 2 over a month before its premiere.

Even before landing a new home that makes room for an uptick in everything from action to language and steamy scenes between characters, Moore teases that S.W.A.T. Exiles was already looking to shake things up in a multitude of ways. For starters, the episodes are not "racing to commercials," wanting to instead focus on the "real human element" at the core of their storylines, particularly in "peeling back the layers of the onion of each individual character."

Shemar Moore: I liked it, we're still superheroes, we're still running around chasing bad guys, doing super cool stuff...meeting a new group of people, a young group of people, which is frustrating and very hard for Hondo because Hondo's an OG. I'm an old head. In real life, I'm 56, I think Hondo's got to be, I don't know, 44, 45. I dye [my goatee] to keep Hondo younger, and I put on these Hollywood muscles, fake it till I make it. [Laughs] You know what I mean? But no, this show, it's compelling for me as an actor because you have an A story, where there's a bad guy, and we got to go chase him. But there's this B story, this undercurrent that runs through the season, and I'm excited because the old show was more of a formula.

Moore's quick to assure S.W.A.T. Exiles doesn't entirely eschew the procedural format of the original series, nor is he disparaging it, as "that formula worked, and it was wonderful." Instead, the spinoff is looking to watch the team "chase down the bad guys," but then go deeper with "in-house drama" and "in-house relationships," particularly with the introduction of the new squad members. Praising them as a "fascinating ensemble," the Emmy winner further teased that the show will explore "the dynamic of the Gen X OG trying to communicate and jive and vibe with Gen Z."

We've got one from Australia, we've got two from England, a swaggy dude from Miami, who plays a computer geek on the show...they bump heads a lot, but somehow they've got to come together and be a unit.

One of the other big changes S.W.A.T. Exiles is bringing to the franchise is giving it an entirely different look than the CBS series, which he described as being "bright" and "very James Bond-y and techie." Coming into the spinoff, "all that bright is gone, all that techie is gone," with Moore laughing as he says many of the sets in the new series are full of "bad furniture" and "looks like we took over the Hill Street Blues set."

Hondo Is Leaving Behind His Superhero Era In S.W.A.T. Exiles

SWAT Exiles EXCLUSIVE Episode 104 SCREENRANT

In the original show's run, Hondo certainly found himself confronting a variety of personal hurdles, particularly the aforementioned racism layered throughout the LAPD to his impassioned hunt for the criminal who tried to hurt his sister and his various relationships. However, even prior to 20-Squad's satisfying send-off in the S.W.A.T. series finale, Hondo's family life served as a big grounding point for him in guiding his team and making him the moral center of the show.

Coming into S.W.A.T. Exiles, Moore reveals that everything is changing for his fan-favorite character. In addition to the aforementioned off-screen retirement, the new show, which picks up two years later, will see Hondo "a little darker" and "a little grumpier," citing the fact that his character's mom, Charice, formerly played by Debbie Allen, has passed, and he's now divorced from Rochelle Aytes' Nichelle.

This doesn't mean he's entirely changed, as Moore assures Hondo's "heart is still there" and that "smile is still there," but says S.W.A.T. Exiles will find him "a little more human" and "a little more flawed," and thus characters will "have to dig it out of him."

Shemar Moore: Being a superhero is great but, if you're just a superhero, if you're just that guy who saves the day all the time, that's fun and I have a lot of fun playing a superhero, but it gets redundant and one-dimensional. I like flawed heroes, I like people who aren't perfect, but they still believe in good, and I think you're going to get a deeper sense of that version of Hondo in this show.

Moore revealed that some of the personal hurdles Hondo is facing in S.W.A.T. Exiles were pitched by him directly to his new showrunner, Lucifer alum Jason Ning, as there was a "small part" of the Emmy winner that was "bored of being squeaky clean" and wanted to ground his character more. More notably, Moore finds it "fascinating" to watch any character, male or female, "persevere" as they balance making it "look like he has it all" on the outside while "struggling" on the inside, also feeling that bringing that to Hondo can help viewers "relate to that and be inspired by that."

Shemar Moore: So, to be the superhero is great and, trust, I love being [that]. It's fun to play pretend, to be a bada-- man, be a combat man, it's fun to get out there and talk tough, and be tough, and fight and get the slow-motion action sequence. All that's cool but the human, the man under the badge, squeaky clean is boring. So, I'd rather see a man who fights for something bigger than himself, fights for himself, but is constantly facing adversity.

Hondo's "Old World" Is Still Alive, Even If Everyone Isn't Back For S.W.A.T. Exiles

SWAT Exiles EXCLUSIVE Shemar Moore Photo SCREENRANT

Though S.W.A.T. Exiles is carrying Hondo's story forward, the series did initially find itself sparking doubts from franchise fans about the lack of other major characters returning. Echoing prior statements made about the cast shake-up, Moore acknowledged that the question of whom all would be joining him from the original cast was "above my pay grade," and that Sony "wanted to continue [the franchise] with me," but that he has "no ego in that," as he describes the series as "not [being] a one-man show."

Instead, he views himself and Hondo as the quarterback of S.W.A.T., and that the "quarterback's got to throw it to somebody." But in changing up who he'd be playing with, Moore confessed that "it was tough at first to be offered a new chapter with the show" without a clear indication of who else would be returning with him, questioning what would happen to "all the people who helped us get there."

Shemar Moore: They wanted a fresh take on the show. I'm the lead of the show, I'm the guy on the poster. I've worked 33 years to achieve what I've achieved, so I can't apologize for that. But I also know that it takes a team, it takes a village. I spent eight years with a group of people — and not just the cast, the crew, all of it, it takes a village. And the good thing is that we have the majority of our crew from the mothership, so a lot of people get to put food on their tables for their families that we've come up together with.

Even still, Moore assured that the "tough pill to swallow" of making S.W.A.T. Exiles without his original cast was "not just about money," as he doesn't "chase my career anymore for money." Chuckling that he has "a daughter" and "a big house," and that "my daughter's got to eat," he looks at everything as it needing "to make sense creatively," and continued comparing the world of Hollywood to that of the sports industry:

Shemar Moore: Like, in sports, you get traded. It's business, you get traded, your value is your value, and, "You work for us here, but now you're going to go there." I was never a professional athlete, but I come from a sports mentality. I treat my career like sports, "You better work hard, because somebody's out there trying to outwork you." So, when Sony comes to you, when Neal Moritz comes to you, when Katherine Pope comes to you and says, "Hey, we want to keep doing it," you don't tell them no. And it's not just about money, it's about opportunities, it's about keeping the train rolling, keep your career thriving, but it also has to be for the right [reasons].

While the new show may shift its focus to Hondo leading a new team, S.W.A.T. Exiles is still going to see a few familiar faces return for the Starz spinoff. In addition to Esprit's aforementioned LAPD Commander, the spinoff will also feature guest appearances from Jay Harrington as Sergeant David "Deacon" Kay and David Lim as Officer III Victor Tan, with Moore indicating that the goal is "to keep Hondo's old world alive" through both cameos and dialogue, though remains mum on "when they show up."

Going into the show's future, though, Moore teases that "anything's possible" for more original S.W.A.T. characters to return in Exiles, particularly Hondo's original team, permitted "in real life they're available" and not busy with other acting jobs. One notable absence from the new series is that of Rochelle Aytes' Nichelle, who had to take on a recurring guest role in the mainline show's final season due to her work on fellow CBS title Watson, starring alongside Moore's own former The Brothers co-star Morris Chestnut.

For Exiles, Moore confirms that Aytes did not reprise her S.W.A.T. role, but assures that the decision to have their characters divorced was only a desire to explore Hondo's flawed side instead of any dislike for his co-star. Plus, now that her Sherlock Holmes spinoff series has come to a close after two seasons on CBS, the Emmy winner says the door is wide open for Nichelle to appear in Exiles season 2.

Shemar Moore: But for the first season, you learn that Hondo's divorced, and I think you'll see that more in conversation and melancholy mood and some things Hondo will say. You'll see it in how he lives, you'll see the changes in his life, it may not be massaged out with picture. I can tell you that Nichelle was busy working with Morris Chestnut on Watson, so she wasn't able to come to this first season. But now, from what I understand, Nichelle is available, so that'll be a creative question for the writers and Mr. Jason Ning, the showrunner.

S.W.A.T. Exiles Season 2 Is Still A Ways Away From Filming

As previously noted, Starz was so confident in picking up S.W.A.T. Exiles that they swiftly renewed it for a second season, though details as to filming and a release schedule have stayed under wraps. Near the top of our interview, Moore said he was currently in the process of "getting ready" for production, but didn't indicate when exactly that would be, mentioning "six weeks," though cutting himself short as to whether he was referring to how far into training he was, or how far out filming was expected to begin.

Regardless of the actual start schedule, Moore is going all in on preparing for S.W.A.T. Exiles season 2, "trying to get my Hondo back together," but laughs as he says "this s--t hurts," given he is "56 trying to look and act 30." But carrying on that "passion," "fire" and "refusal to quit" that kept him pushing for the show's longevity amid CBS' various cancellations, he is "doing everything I can" to give viewers the Hondo look they've come to expect.

Shemar Moore: I'm vain, we're all vain, this is Hollywood, you know what I mean? I'm vain, I want to look good, I joke all the time. I'm trying to keep my black from cracking. But I'm 56, trying to look and move like I'm 30, so I want to look good. So, yeah, I'm in the gym two hours a day, five days a week, and then I come home. I have a home gym, where I do my cardio, so I'm doing 45 minutes on the treadmill, the StairMaster, I'm doing push-ups, I'm doing sit-ups, I'm skipping rope, I'm sitting in my sauna for 30 minutes. I have a cold plunge at 41 degrees, I sit in that for five to six minutes. I get deep tissue massage, I go to a physical therapist who cracks me this way, and cracks me that way, and does all this stuff to keep me on my feet.

One thing that has already made S.W.A.T. Exiles an easier thing to prepare for than the original show is that the spinoff only consists of 10 episodes compared to its predecessor's average of 20-plus episodes a season, the latter of which required "10 and a half months of four days of running around, being a superhero, and four days of talking." Now, Moore instead only has to "bust my a--" for a total of "40 days of being a superhero" and "40 days of acting, running my mouth."

Shemar Moore: I want to look good, but I also want to look the part. Hondo has to have a presence, and on the outside, it's muscles, it's physique, it's swagger, it's the way he moves. Hondo has that. But also, you can't do the show S.W.A.T. unless you're in shape. Ask any of the cast members, young and old, the old show, this show, you can't run around 10 to 13 hours a day. So, it takes us eight days to do one episode, three to four of those days, on average, is action, and then the other four days after, you can barely walk, and all that is talking, you got to do all the talking. But to run around with a gun, and duck walk, and run up and down fire escapes and chase guys down alleys, and do these choreographed fights and jump over hoods of cars, and jump out of the way of a building about to explode, if you are not in shape, you can't do this job. The endurance. When you see me on the screen, I want you to believe me, and that's it. But, yeah, all this keeping it sexy stuff, it's overrated. [Laughs]