UPDATE: It’s official: S.W.A.T. will return for a seventh and final season at CBS.
“We have listened to our viewers and their outpouring of passion for S.W.A.T. and we have reached an agreement to renew it for a finalseason of 13 episodes to air during the 2023-2024 broadcast year,”CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach and Sony Pictures TelevisionStudios president Katherine Pope said in a joint statement. “S.W.A.T. hasaired for six seasons on CBS and garnered a devoted following. We arepleased that we found a way to bring it back and give closure to theshow’s storylines and characters, which audiences deserve. Once again,we appreciate the talents and efforts of the cast, writers, producersand crew and everyone who has contributed to the success of S.W.A.T.We look forward to its return next season.”
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S.W.A.T. saved? Just days after CBS canceled the hit crime drama after six seasons, the CBS Studios and Sony Pictures Television co-production is in talks to return for a seventh season. On Monday, Deadline reported that network CBS and lead studio Sony Pictures TV could reach a decision to renew the series for a 13-episode S.W.A.T. season 7 by the end of the day. According to Deadline, it was a financial dispute — not ratings — that canceled S.W.A.T., which averaged nearly seven million viewers over last season. As executive producer Shawn Ryan told The Hollywood Reporter in March: “There’s no reason why the show shouldn’t be picked up other than the economics of the business are changing. CBS and Sony will or will not figure out a way to economically make a season seven work.”
That could change as CBS and Sony return to the table to effectively un-cancel S.W.A.T., should the financials make sense for both sides. According to Deadline, talks continued over the weekend amid swift backlash from fans and public push back from star Shemar Moore, who has led all six seasons as LAPD Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson. Should CBS and Sony save S.W.A.T. at the eleventh hour, the renewal would come before the network reveals its fall schedule on Wednesday, May 10th.
Following news of the show’s cancellation, Deadline reported that CBS and Sony failed to reach a financial agreement: “[S.W.A.T.’s] early renewals the last few years came with CBS keeping the license fee unchanged, which has put more and more pressure on the budget and further squeezed the show’s profit margins as costs increase every year … Sony is not willing to go for another renewal at a flat license fee [the amount of money a network pays to a studio for its programming] as that would compromise the show’s production quality and financial model.”
Ultimately, after CBS let its exclusive window on S.W.A.T. lapse, the network agreed to increase the license fee in exchange for a shortened 13-episode season, which reportedly would have “pushed up the per-episode budget even higher and further hurt the show’s economics.”
In a video posted to Instagram on Saturday, Moore reacted to CBS’ decision to cancel “the most diverse show” on the network.
“For CBS, last two years we’ve been killing it… We’ve done nothing wrong. We did everything that was asked for,” Moore said. “When I got hired to be Hondo on S.W.A.T., was getting a lot offlak for lack of diversity. If I post this, and I think I might, I willget in a lot of trouble with CBS because I’m calling them out. Becausethey’ve been wonderful to me for 26 out of my 29-year career. But toabruptly get told that you’re canceled when you led us to believe lastweek — and the week before, and the week before that — that we wouldhave some semblance of a season seven to at least say goodbye, if notcontinue. And to abruptly be told, ‘You’re done.’”
Moore continued, “I understand it’s not personal, it’s business, but I still have faith that S.W.A.T. will live to see another day.” He then encouraged his 4.2 million followers to “make some f—ing noise and let them know that canceling S.W.A.T. is a f—ing mistake.”
