How The S.W.A.T. Season 8 Finale Sets Up Shemar Moore's Spin-Off Series

Contains spoilers for "S.W.A.T." Season 8, Episode 22 — "Return to Base"

After being canceled once and then saved, "S.W.A.T." finally joined the list of TV shows canceled in 2025 for good — but its future is wide open by the end of the series finale, "Return to Base." Though Devin Gamble (Annie Ilonzeh) considers leaving the squad due to her divided loyalties and Hondo (Shemar Moore) must deal with both a stalker who's trying to ruin his life and the ex-Russian mercenaries bearing down on the team, the ending suggests all will be business as usual from now on. 

That means that "S.W.A.T.: Exiles," the show's upcoming, Hondo-centric spin-off, can pick up right where the main show left off — destroyed headquarters notwithstanding. The very fact that "Return to Base" keeps the show's fate incomplete and lacks definitive closure is what makes "S.W.A.T.: Exiles" possible. While there's no hint of the troubles set to befall him, Hondo is nonetheless in cool leader mode. He looks just like the leader "Exiles" would have him be, pushing the squad to do its best and save lives. The sky is the limit for him at the moment, but "Exiles" might be waiting to clip his wings.

"S.W.A.T.: Exiles" will see Hondo being forcibly retired from Twenty Squad after a mission he's been placed on goes completely wrong. Now isolated and bored, he will be nonetheless pulled back into action as a mentor and trainer for a new group of S.W.A.T. officers. This group is nothing like his disciplined, well-orchestrated team from back home; instead they are young and come from a much different generation than he does. Hondo thus has a lot of work to do to make these kids understand his ways and to get them to perform to his standard. The very survival of the team he created, fostered, and has so long supported rides on this very mission.

The rest of the show hasn't been cast so far, but Jason Ning will be the showrunner. This is yet another example of "S.W.A.T." having nine lives. It was canceled at the end of Season 6, only to be revived through a combination of shrewd negotiation and fan support. It was renewed for Season 8 without being on the bubble, but CBS did not negotiate with Paramount for the right to produce Season 9, just one more reason why Shemar Moore called out CBS for canceling the show for a second time. That's probably why Paramount is shopping "Exiles" around to streamers. That means it could end up on Netflix, a connection Shemar Moore was urging earlier in the year, or Paramount +. Fate will determine where it lands — and if audiences tune in.