‘I’m not done being Hondo’: Shemar Moore returns for ‘S.W.A.T. Exiles’

Actor says new series brings 'darker,' 'edgier' version of Hondo as he leads a new team

Published Oct 26, 2026  •  Last updated 25 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

'S.W.A.T. Exiles' revolves around Shemar Moore's Hondo from 'S.W.A.T.' Photo by Sony Pictures Television

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Shemar Moore says he wasn’t ready to stop playing Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson Jr. on S.W.A.T.

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So he was happy when, just days after CBS cancelled the procedural, which ran from 2017 to 2025, he got the opportunity to continue Hondo’s story in the spinoff S.W.A.T. Exiles.

“I’m excited about this new version because it’s new and fresh and it’s a different take,” he tells Postmedia in an interview. “If it was more of the same, I would’ve just tipped my cap and said, ‘Thanks for a great ride.’ It was an insanely great ride. Eight seasons in this industry, that doesn’t happen much anymore.”

S.W.A.T. Exiles, which airs Friday nights on CTV and streams the next day on Crave, finds Hondo pulled out of forced retirement to lead a last-chance experimental S.W.A.T. unit made up of untested, unpredictable Gen Z recruits.

Hondo is navigating fatherhood while also dealing with a divorce and the death of his mother.

His own mother, Marilyn Wilson Moore, passed away in early 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe.

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Moore says his mother taught him never to give up, recalling a card she gave him that read, “Leap and the net will appear.”

“When I look at my career, I never take it for granted. There are billboards that just went up around L.A. to promote S.W.A.T. Exiles and there’s my big old face on there,” he says.

“Even though I’ve played this character for almost a decade, there are new colours we’re going to find,” he says of the new show, which was created by Jason Ning. “Now it’s almost like they’re taking the handcuffs off and letting us fly. So I’m excited to see us get edgier, get darker, be not-so perfect and make some mistakes and tap into a darker energy.”

Shemar Moore as Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson in ‘S.W.A.T. Exiles.’ Photo by CTV

This week’s episode finds Hondo’s team forced to reckon with what one of their own did to survive during an undercover assignment in which they had to infiltrate a white supremacist crew.

The original S.W.A.T. was popular with TV fans, but it had a rocky run on network television, with CBS cancelling and uncancelling it several times.

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Moore, an Emmy-winning actor who came to prominence with his role as Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless, says it was the fans who kept the show on the air and allowed for this new iteration of Hondo to emerge.

“I understand that in life, let alone Hollywood, nothing lasts forever, that’s just the way it goes. S.W.A.T. isn’t going to last forever and I’m not going to be Hondo forever. But I’m not done being Hondo and this version of Hondo you’re going to see Shemar Moore a little more unfiltered and a little more unleashed. I’m going to be a little darker and angrier,” he says.

There are a few familiar faces from the original series who will cameo on Exiles, including Jay Harrington, Patrick St. Esprit and David Lim. But the new characters revolve around a force of young officers led by actors Ronen Rubinstein, Freddy Miyares, Zyra Gorecki, Lucy Barrett and Adain Bradley.

Shemar Moore and his new group of recruits in ‘S.W.A.T. Exiles.’ Photo by CTV

‘I’m vain and I want to look good’

Staying in Hondo shape at 56 is no easy feat, but Moore isn’t going to let age slow his character down.

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“I’m vain and I want to look good, but playing Hondo, you need to be in shape,” he chuckles.

Moore says that maintaining the physique required to play the heroic LAPD operative has become more challenging over the years — but that just means he trains harder.

“We want to move you, excite you, make you laugh, make you cry, have you on pins and needles … our job is to entertain you,” he says. “So at 56 years old I’m in the gym doing the curls for the girls, the pushups, the situps, the cardio. I’m doing all of it. It takes its toll. But I love it so much. I don’t want it to stop.”

Moore gets added motivation to stay in shape as the father of a three-year-old daughter, Frankie, whom he shares with his partner Jesiree Dizon.

“I don’t want to have a dad bod. So my vanity works in my personal life, being a dad, and my vanity works in my career,” he says, smiling. “I keep myself in shape so I can play with my daughter and still go out there and chase bad guys.”

Moore says that Sony Pictures Television and Starz (the streamer that airs the show in the U.S.) are confident Exiles will be a success, with a second season already confirmed.

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Shemar Moore as Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson in ‘S.W.A.T.’ Photo by Michael Yarish /CBS

“Who knows? There could be a Season 3, 4, 5,” Moore says, contemplating Hondo’s future. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero and here I am a grown man getting paid to fly around in helicopters and have motorcycle chases and tackle bad guys and have these crazy fight scenes. I’m having a ball, and the world is having a good time watching.”

Moore knows eventually Hondo’s run will come to an end. Like he did when his stints on The Young and the Restless and Criminal Minds ran their course, he’ll move on.

“Maybe this will be the final chapter for Hondo,” he says. “But it’s going to be one hell of a final chapter.”

S.W.A.T. Exiles airs Fridays on CTV and streams the next day on Crave.

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