New Gritty Action Spinoff From Massive Franchise Becomes Starz’s #1 Show

Published Sep 28, 2026, 8:36 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.

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A new gritty action series that's a spinoff from a massive franchise becomes the Number 1 show on Starz after just one episode. Starz is home to a number of TV franchises that have impressed on streaming charts in recent years. One of its biggest is Outlander, whose main series ended in May 2026 and continues thanks to the prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood. There's also the Power Universe, a crime drama franchise spanning four TV shows, with two additional shows currently in development.

But Starz has also started to expand its horizons with the continuation of a TV show that didn't originally air on its network. This series is S.W.A.T. Exiles, a continuation of CBS' finished procedural S.W.A.T. Following up on the events of the original show, the series sees Shemar Moore return as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson Jr., who's pulled out of an early retirement to train a S.W.A.T. unit full of young rookies. The series focuses on him bringing a new team together as they face down various threats in the Los Angeles area.

S.W.A.T. Spinoff Gains Massive Following

S.W.A.T. Exiles premiered on Starz Friday, September 25, 2026. And, after just a few days on the platform, the show has already garnered a massive audience. According to data from September 28, 2026, the sequel series is the Number 1 TV show on Starz in the United States. With just a single episode, the show managed to surpass the likes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and another newly charting series, The Nowhere Man.

The spinoff's success comes after the original show was cancelled for a third time on CBS. Despite the show pulling enough ratings to justify its continuation, the series has always been under threat of cancellation, before the original was finally shelved for good after season 8. However, the new show marks a new chapter in the series, with reviews for S.W.A.T. Exiles being relatively positive about the potential the series has. It's already been renewed for season 2 as well, with Starz clearly having faith in their continuation of the series.

S.W.A.T. Exiles Expands One Of TV’s Biggest Action Franchises

With Hondo back as the series' protagonist, S.W.A.T. Exiles continues his story after the massive, 163-episode stint Moore had on the show portraying the team leader. It also brings a number of new characters into focus, with Moore joined by stars Ronen Rubinstein, Freddy Miyares, Zyra Gorecki, Lucy Barrett, and Adain Bradley. It brings new blood into the series while also delivering on the series' promised focus. The show's core ideas remain apparent, too, while giving the series a new lens to work with.

S.W.A.T. Exiles is also just one small part of a bigger franchise: the S.W.A.T. shows takes place in the same universe as The Shield, an FX procedural from the 2000s that earned six Emmys across its seven-season run. The newest show's success on Starz continues a two-decade tradition of positivity for the larger franchise. It appears to be one that could last for quite some time, with new episodes of the spinoff set to air on the platform every Friday for the next nine weeks.

Cast

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  Shemar Moore

  David 'Deacon' Kay

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  Jay Harrington

  Daniel 'Hondo' Harrelson Jr.

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  Patrick St. Esprit

  Robert 'Bob' Hicks

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  Lucy Barrett

  Sammy 'Sam' Bishop