ET chats with the 'S.W.A.T' star about staying optimistic before the CBS show was saved from its second cancellation.
Come what may, Shemar Moore is never the kind of man who gives up on his squad! When S.W.A.T. was set to end with the show's seventh season, the 53-year-old said he was still holding out a tiny sliver of hope that the series might find a way to continue.
Lo and behold, on April 12, CBS announced that it had renewed the series after it was initially canceled, marking the second time this has happened to the series after it was canceled then renewed in 2023 for the seventh season. The upcoming season 8 is set to consist of 22 episodes.
After the news of the show's renewal, ET's Denny Directo sat down with Moore, who stars as Sergeant Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson on the series in addition to executive producing it, during which the father of one shared his gratitude for the unexpected continuation and revealed how he maintained faith in the show.
"It's a miracle, man. I'm pinching myself and I'm exhausted," Moore tells ET when asked about how he's handling the reversal of the show's cancellation. "Trust me. I'm tired but it's a good kind of tired."
The star, who turns 54 on April 20, quips that filming the series is "no joke" and takes a lot of physicality in addition to the emotional work of acting.
"We're running around in all our gear, chasing bad guys, flying around in helicopters, hanging off tankers, blowing up buildings, car chases, [and] fighting," Moore details. Although he admits that the work is "mad fun," he adds that "it's a lot of hours."
As a former child who enjoyed playing "cops and robbers in the backyard," Moore says he's learned to "be careful what you wish for." He's happy to be a "grown ass man" that gets paid to chase fictional bad guys "and be a superhero," but the star jokingly says that it's a lot on his aging bones!
Still, there's no hiding Moore's joy at getting to return to his second favorite job -- the first is being a dad to daughter, Frankie, of course.
After the news of the show's renewal was announced, Moore posted on Instagram, writing, "Thank you to ALL my HOMIES, FANS, n BABY GIRLS!!!"
He also posted a photo of the S.W.A.T. cast -- which includes Jay Harrington, David Lim, Patrick St. Esprit, Rochelle Aytes and Anna Enger Ritch -- holding up eight fingers to celebrate the news.
"This is really important for me to say; I am so proud of myself, I am so proud of my show, my co-stars [and] my crew," Moore tells ET. "250 to 300 people that show up every day [and] sacrifice, you know, they don't get to see their families [all the time]. We're like a second family for each other. This, getting canceled [and] uncanceled twice, is a testament to all the hard work we pull off."
When Moore spoke with ET in February about what was -- at the time -- the final season, he seemingly predicted the series' comeback.
"Oh man, it's been such a good run. And, you know, this is my 30th year in the game, so I pinch myself," Moore told ET at the time. "[It's been] seven years of a really fun show. And the word on the street is it's our final season -- but, you know, I'm an optimist."
He even teased at the time, "We hate to see it go. But again, I'm not quite sure it's the end, but that's just me," adding, "I know that the door is not completely closed."
At the time, Moore was hopeful that by premiering season 7 after the Super Bowl, the show's numbers would encourage the network to give them another season.
"If the numbers are good, maybe we'll change some minds and maybe we can keep on trucking," Moore said, adding that when it came to saving the show from cancellation the first time, "I know the fans made noise... I think they were a huge part of it."
So, of course, Moore has to give props to the fans of the CBS series now that the show will be coming back. "I have to say, the fans out there around the world...they showed up for us on Netflix. We were number one for a moment, then we were top 10, top 20, trending, and then this year, we were left for dead. We were left for dead. And week after week, the numbers were just there," he says.
"Then I ran my mouth a little bit on social media and said, 'Look, numbers matter. Numbers matter.' And not only did they show up and watch, but they wrote letters to CBS and Sony and said, 'Don't take our show away,'" Moore continues. "And what I told our show this year was like, 'Look, they told us we're done. And that may be true, and we can hold our heads up high.' But [to use a] boxing analogy, when you get sucker-punched -- because getting canceled last year felt like a sucker-punch and it [put] us on a knee. But my mother, may she rest in peace, she always said, 'Get up.'"
Moore recalls giving the cast and crew a similar speech after the cancellation, encouraging his work family to hold their heads up high despite their worries.
"I said, 'Look, we may be on a knee, but we're going to get up and we're going to fight. We may still lose but we're going to fight until we hear that bell,'" he says. "And then that bell came, and we won."
New episodes of S.W.A.T. air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
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