'S.W.A.T.' Renewed for Season 8 Following Previous Cancellation
The renewal will mark the second time the procedural has been saved from cancellation in less than a year.
20-Squad is not going anywhere anytime soon. After being canceled and then renewed for one final season last May, Deadline reports that CBS has given S.W.A.T. yet another renewal. Fans were upset when CBS canceled the Shemar Moore-led procedural last year, and within days, the network and studio Sony Pictures Television came to an agreement to give the series a seventh season to consist of 13 episodes. However, there were still hopes that this wouldn't be it, and Moore was even "leaving it open" for S.W.A.T.'s future.
Reportedly, Season 8 will consist of the average 22 episodes, and the network is not saying that it's going to be the last, meaning that much more could be coming beyond Season 8. According to sources, the renewal "came down pretty quickly" the last couple of days as the series is wrapping production on Season 7. Just recently, CBS revealed the "series finale" date for S.W.A.T., indicating that Season 7 would be the last, but of course, that is now not the case and instead, the finale airing next month is just the season finale.
The Season 7 finale was written as a "satisfying" series finale but also left open doors for another season. Talks of another season reportedly started earlier this week between CBS and Sony Pictures Television, which included talks of a reduced license fee, which was the initial problem last year. Exactly how the two came to an agreement is unknown, but the 22-episode order helped.
"Here at CBS, we always 'stay liquid' and love a good dramatic twist, especially when it leads to an eighth season of S.W.A.T.!," Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. "The show continues to resonate with viewers thanks to our talented cast led by Shemar Moore and our amazing writers and producers who keep the show relevant and action-packed. We're very pleased to renew it again and incredibly grateful to our partners at Sony, CBS Studios and Shemar for working so closely with us to bring it back for next season."
It was already rare for a series to be canceled and then uncanceled by the same network once, but to have it done twice is pretty remarkable. S.W.A.T.'s future is wide open, and it will be exciting to see what happens. Fans are definitely going to be happy to know that the finale airing on May 17 is only going to be the Season 7 finale and not series finale. S.W.A.T. Season 8 will likely premiere later this year on CBS. In the meantime, new episodes air on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.