CBS Officially Loses The Battle To End 1 Beloved Show After Three Failed Cancellations

Published Sep 19, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT

Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

CBS has officially lost its battle to end a beloved action thriller TV show after three failed attempts at cancellation. CBS is home to a number of high-profile TV shows and franchises that have been running on the network for years. This includes the likes of NCIS, which will be getting a new spinoff in the form of NICS: New York later this year, alongside the Fire Country franchise, which is expected to lay the groundwork for a medical drama set in the same universe.

One of the most crucial elements of CBS' programming lineup, though, has been action dramas. This includes a number of popular series, including Tracker, one of the highest-performing shows on the network, and FBI, which is also part of the procedural genre alongside its spinoff, CIA. Other shows that involve action-heavy storytelling include Boston Blue, a sequel series to Blue Bloods, and Marshals, a follow-up to Yellowstone starring Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton. While diverse in presentation, action-focused shows are integral to CBS' lineup.

This includes one series that was, for a long time, a core staple of the network's standalone action thrillers: S.W.A.T. Based on the '70s series of the same name, the show follows the LAPD's Twenty Squad, a S.W.A.T. team led by Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson Jr., played by Shemar Moore. The series began in 2017, featuring a high-octane approach to the show's weekly threats the team needs to take out. However, CBS tried canceling the show three separate times due to low viewership, an attempt at ending the series that ultimately backfired.

CBS's Third SWAT Cancellation Fails To Hold Up

CBS originally tried to cancel S.W.A.T. in 2023 with season 6, despite the show slowly gaining ratings during its linear, weekly episode premieres. After a days-long campaign by fans and Moore himself, CBS reversed their decision and ordered a shortened season 7, intended to be the final season. Following its success, however, the network reversed their decision once more, this time ordering a 20-episode season 8, originally intended to keep the series going. Unfortunately, due to dwindling ratings, the series was cancelled once again.

However, the show isn't over, with Moore set to reprise his role as Hondo in S.W.A.T. Exiles. A spinoff set after the events of the original show, S.W.A.T. Exiles sees Hondo pulled out of retirement to lead a group of young S.W.A.T. recruits. While Moore is the only actor returning in a main role capacity, the new show effectively reverses CBS' third cancellation attempt. The series will premiere September 24, 2026 on Starz, with season 1 slated for 10 episodes, airing weekly on the premium network.

Everything We Know About SWAT Exiles

MovieStillsDB

S.W.A.T. Exiles won't be without a handful of other connections to the original show. The series will see Jay Harrington's Deacon, Patrick St. Esprit's Robert Hicks, and David Lim's Victor Tan all reprising their roles in guest appearances. While this means the show isn't going to be quite the same as the one CBS was airing, the follow-up will have some definitive connections to the original aside from Hondo's appearance.

What's more, S.W.A.T. Exiles has already been renewed for season 2. With the show now confirmed for a multi-season lifespan on Starz, it sounds like S.W.A.T. has effectively fought back against CBS and their attempt at canceling the series. Although the new show will be quite different from what came before, it will still retain the network TV version's tenacity, especially with Moore still heavily involved in its creation. CBS may have been able to take down the original series, but its spirit lives on in a spinoff that will continue the story for quite some time to come.

• 

  Shemar Moore

  Daniel 'Hondo' Harrelson

• 

  Jay Harrington

  David 'Deacon' Kay