According to Deadline, S.W.A.T Exiles has finished production. The spinoff was announced after CBS canceled the mothership series, S.W.A.T., after eight seasons. The new show was announced in May of 2025.
According to Deadline, the series has yet to land a distributor. But the options may widen as the studio prepares a screening of the first episode in Culver City, California, today. The show is planning a second screening in New York. On February 26, S.W.A.T Exiles will premiere internationally at the London Screenings, which already has over 600 RSVPs.
Deadline reports that the unfortunate delay has given Sony an unseen strategy in and of itself. They are encouraged by the recent success of shows like Heated Rivalry and The Hunting Wives, which landed lucrative streaming deals via Netflix and HBO Max, respectively. More networks have been interested in the show since last May, including possibly Netflix and HBO Max.
“I actually feel like, timing-wise, there’s probably more potential avenues than there were in May,” Katherine Pope, President of Sony Pictures Television Studios, tells Deadline.
According to Deadline, lead Shemar Moore’s (The Young and the Restless, Living Single) Hondo returns from retirement to lead new, experimental SWAT team of newbies. Moore joins new and fan-favorites alike in the series’ cast, including Jay Harrington (Better off Ted, Octopus) and Patrick St Esprit (I Am Wrath, Killing Reagan).
In May, Deadline confirmed that the new series was formed quickly after CBS canceled S.W.A.T. for the third time in March. This is after a mere two weeks of showrunner Jason Ning (Lucifer, Perception) pitching his idea for the show in May and getting a green light. The reason was supposedly to keep Ning before his contract was up. The original show now ranks in the top five at most international platforms.
“We started feeling really good about the cast. We started feeling great about the scripts,” Pope tells Deadline. “We’re like, ‘you know what? We’re going to have something, and it’s going to be better.’ The buyers are going be able to actually see and feel it. There is really nothing to substitute for having a season.”
Sony gets a $15.7 million tax credit for shooting in Los Angeles, Deadline reports.