Two Major 'S.W.A.T.' Stars Demoted for Season 7
Kenny Johnson and Alex Russell will only be recurring on the CBS procedural's final season.
With S.W.A.T. officially in its final season, fans will be seeing less of two stars. TVLine reported that Kenny Johnson and Alex Russell will only be recurring this season as Dominique Luca and Jim Street instead of being series regulars. Despite the two being in fewer episodes in the 13-episode final season, showrunner Andrew Dettmann told the outlet that Luca and Street will still get the endings they deserve.
"Looking at [Season 7] being the final 13 [episodes], we wanted to give everybody their proper curtain call," Dettmann explained. "So the episodes that we have for them are really focused on their characters and the evolution of their storylines." In Season 7, Episode 2, "Peace Talks," it was explained that Street was training at Long Beach S.W.A.T. while Luca was in London for counter-terrorism training. So it seems like the series is really setting them up for something bigger that will more than likely play a part in how their respective stories end.
Fans will soon be able to see how at least one of them is doing. CBS has released the synopsis for Episode 5, "End of the Road," premiering on Friday, Mar. 8. It will see Street discovering a biker club that has stolen a cache of armor-piercing bullets, and he brings in 20-Squad to "hunt for the gang before they can pull off a daring and deadly heist." It's likely fans will get more updates on how Street has been doing and why he switched to Long Beach. However, since he was initially at Long Beach PD, it is a full circle moment for him to be training with their S.W.A.T. team.
As for Luca, it's not unusual for him to be abroad for work, but hopefully, he'll come back to the States soon. It's definitely a disappointment that Kenny Johnson and Alex Russell got demoted for the final season, but it does sound like their endings will be just as satisfying as everyone else's. Meanwhile, Anna Enger Ritch has been promoted to series regular, so fans will be seeing a lot more of Zoe Powell.
Fans will want to tune in to the seventh and final season of S.W.A.T. on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS to see what happens. Street and Luca may not be in all of the episodes, but it will still surely be exciting to see how their stories, along with everyone else's, come to an end.