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The cast of S.W.A.T. has weathered multiple cancellations while continuing to advocate for more seasons of the show — but that doesn’t mean everyone is returning for the surprise spinoff.Based on the 1975 TV show and 2003 film adaptation of the same name, S.W.A.T. centered around the Los Angeles Police Department. The CBS series premiered in 2017 and aired six seasons before it was picked up for a seventh and final season. CBS ultimately reversed that decision and S.W.A.T. returned for season 8. But the celebration didn’t last long — the network canceled the show for a second time in March 2025.
S.W.A.T. seemingly came to an end two months later when the series finale aired on CBS. In the final episode, the team survived yet another mission and the last scene showed 20 Squad leaving headquarters to take on their next crisis.
Just two days after the finale aired, Sony Pictures Television picked up a spinoff titled S.W.A.T. Exiles, which will pick up after “a high-profile mission goes sideways, Daniel ‘Hondo’ Harrelson is pulled out of forced retirement to lead a last-chance experimental SWAT unit made up of untested, unpredictable young recruits.” Shemar Moore’s character must “bridge a generational divide, navigate clashing personalities, and turn a squad of outsiders into a team capable of protecting the city and saving the program that made him who he is.”
Moore reacted to the 10-episode continuation of S.W.A.T., saying in a statement, “My eight seasons on S.W.A.T. have been epic and memorable. We entertained the world, defied the odds, came back from the dead twice, and continued to woo fans and families worldwide.”
He continued: “I am excited for this next generation and iteration of S.W.A.T. with Sony. Katherine Pope, Neal H. Moritz, Jason Ning, and I will keep the franchise, thrill ride action, heartfelt drama, and storytelling of S.W.A.T. alive. WE DON’T LOSE!!!! ROLL SWAT!!!”
While Moore’s return was announced, fans couldn’t help but notice that the rest of the cast wasn’t confirmed. The last season of S.W.A.T also starred Jay Harrington, David Lim, Patrick St. Esprit, Anna Enger Ritch, Annie Ilonzeh and Niko Pepaj.
Keep scrolling for what each cast member has said about whether they would reprise their character — and whether they have officially been offered the chance to return:
Shemar Moore
CBS
“To all my homies, fans and baby girls… to everybody out there around the world who have supported us for eight years, first of all, thank you,” the actor, who plays Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, said in a video shared by Sony Pictures Television. “We couldn’t have done this without you,” he said. “I know the sad news is we got cancelled, but the good news is we don’t stop fighting. And guess what happens when you don’t stop fighting? We won! S.W.A.T. ain’t going nowhere! Hondo ain’t going nowhere!”
Jay Harrington
CBS
Before the series finale, Harrington reflected on his character Deacon’s conclusion, telling TV Insider in May, “The way the writers crafted this entire 13 episodes was really, really interesting because they didn’t want it to be — not just because there’s a chance we could come back, but sometimes in shows when they just end and they tie it all into this bow and it’s perfect, yeah, you want to do that in some way, but these guys, SWAT officers, they’re special.”
He continued: “So they really wanted the idea of, the show must go on and it’s a job that doesn’t go away and we don’t lose them. They crafted it very, very smartly, I think.”
Despite showing interest in a return, Harrington hasn’t publicly reacted yet to the spinoff news and his name wasn’t listed in the press release.
David Lim
CBS
When viewers last saw Tan, he accepted a liaison position but remained in the field with the rest of 20 Squad. Lim, meanwhile, has yet to address the surprise spinoff but has expressed interest in remaining in the universe.
“It might not be just over for S.W.A.T. just yet,” he said on KTLA 5 Morning News in April 2025. “We believe in the show. We believe in what we’ve built. We’re passionate. We want to continue. We’re actively trying to find a new home for S.W.A.T., and there’s been an outpouring of love and support from our fans.”
Anna Enger Ritch
CBS
Ritch, who plays Zoe Powell, has pitched ideas for what other stories there are still left to tell, sharing with Collider in March 2023, “I think it would be interesting to see the women go through trying to juggle what it would be like to have a family and also maintain a SWAT tactical officer career. I don’t think that’s anything I’ve ever dove into on this show particularly, but hopefully, as we continue, should we continue, that would be an interesting exploration.”
The actress, however, hasn’t sounded off on the spinoff — or whether Powell will appear — yet.
Niko Pepaj
CBS
After being promoted to main cast, Pepaj has continued to show support for his character Alfaro’s journey. Pepaj documented the days leading up to the series finale but hasn’t weighed in on S.W.A.T.‘s spinoff.
Annie Ilonzeh
CBS
Before news of S.W.A.T. Exiles broke, Ilonzeh spoke with Us Weekly about attempts to revive the series.
“We are crossing our fingers. So there is a particular discussion being had. I hope I can say [soon] that we really did it. We rallied for a third time,” she shared in April 2025 while reflecting on her time playing Gamble. “But we’re making noise. They do see it — producers and streamers that are interested — they are like, ‘OK, this is something.’ So if we can plug and play, we’re all geared up to go. We don’t want this ride to be over.”
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Despite fighting for S.W.A.T. to get a new home, it would be the show’s last battle to stay on the air.
“I was just talking to [my costar] Shemar [Moore] yesterday and he was like, ‘If we do this for a third time — whenever we do get canceled again — I will be OK with it. I’m not fighting for a fourth [time] because we really did it and we end on that,’” she noted. “We will end on the fight and the win and relish in all of this and squeeze the life out of it. We will know that we did it, we did our job and we can walk away happy campers.”
Ilonzeh has also not acknowledged the spinoff news yet.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The haka, a chanting dance of challenge, is sacred to New Zealand’s Māori people but it’s become a beloved cultural institution among New Zealanders of all races. Spine-tingling performances at sports events, funerals and graduations often go viral online, a non-partisan point of pride for the country abroad.But one haka performed in protest in New Zealand’s Parliament by three legislators last November has provoked fierce division among lawmakers about whether it was an act of peaceful dissent, or disruptive and even intimidating to their opponents.A vote to approve unprecedented, lengthy bans from Parliament for the Māori party lawmakers who enacted the protest was unexpectedly suspended on Tuesday. Debate will resume in June, when it threatens to gridlock the legislative agenda until politicians from all parties reach consensus on what the punishment should be.Hundreds of protesters against the sanctions waited outside Parliament’s front doors in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, on Tuesday to greet the Māori party lawmakers with a haka when they emerged.The haka was once viewed as a war dance, but that understanding has changed in New Zealand as it has been embraced in a range of celebratory, somber and ceremonial settings. It’s an expression of Māori identity and while sacred, it can be performed by people of any race who are educated by Māori in the words, movements and cultural protocols.Emotional haka have generated news headlines in the past year when performed by soldiers farewelling a New Zealander who died fighting in Ukraine, and in Paris by athletes from New Zealand’s Olympic team. While the best-known haka is “ka mate,” the chant often performed by the All Blacks rugby team before games, there are many variants. Last November’s protest wasn’t the first time a haka has rung out in Parliament. Performances regularly follow the passage of laws important to Māori.But some lawmakers decried this one for two reasons: because the legislators from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, left their seats and strode across the floor toward government politicians while performing it, and because it disrupted the vote on a proposed law.When asked how the Māori party would vote on a bill they said would dismantle Indigenous rights, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke – New Zealand’s youngest parliamentarian, at 22 – tore up a copy of the law and began the haka, joined by two of her colleagues.The law, an attempt to rewrite New Zealand’s founding treaty between Māori tribal leaders and the British crown, was widely unpopular and has since been defeated. But for six months, a committee of the lawmakers’ peers have fought furiously about how — or whether — their protest of it should be punished.Usually there’s agreement among parliamentarians about penalties for errant behavior. But this episode polarized the committee considering the lawmakers’ actions.Its report recommended Maipi-Clarke, who the committee said showed contrition in a letter, be suspended for seven days and her colleagues for 21 days. That’s the harshest penalty ever assigned to New Zealand lawmakers; the previous record was three days.Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee this month scheduled a rare, unlimited debate in Parliament until all parties could find consensus on the penalty, citing the severity of the proposed bans. But minutes after the debate began Tuesday, it was adjourned at the government’s behest after they allowed the Māori party lawmakers to stay until after Thursday’s budget was delivered.It permitted the government their budget week agenda and meant the Māori lawmakers — opponents of the government — wouldn’t miss one of Parliament’s most significant dates. But the debate about the bans will then resume.Opposition leader Chris Hipkins, the only opponent of the sanctions to speak before debate was suspended, cited episodes where lawmakers have brawled in Parliament and driven a tractor up the building’s steps, but were not suspended, as evidence that the bans weren’t fair. But Judith Collins, the chair of the committee that produced the sanctions, said the penalties were “not about the haka.” Collins said the lawmakers’ behavior was the most egregious she’d ever witnessed.The debate will resume on June 5, when it threatens to stall usual government business once more. The government said Tuesday that it would not back down from the punishments suggested and opposition parties said they couldn’t be swayed from disputing them.Outside Parliament, activist Eru Kapa-Kingi told the assembled crowd that the haka was “a source of fear” in Parliament.“Even though when the All Blacks do it it’s a good thing,” he added.
Across Africa, debates about cultural preservation and traditional values are increasingly being influenced by forces that promote conservative social agendas rooted in colonial and missionary legacies. These movements, often backed by generous Western funding, seek to impose rigid, exclusionary values that contradict the continent’s diverse and historically dynamic cultures.A recent example of this dynamic played out last week in Nairobi, where the second Pan-African Conference on Family Values organised by the Africa Christian Professionals Forum sparked controversy by claiming to defend “traditional” African family values.
The event’s foreign supporters, including the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) and Family Watch International, are known for their opposition to LGBTQ rights, reproductive health, and comprehensive sex education.
These organisations, some classified as hate groups by the United States-based Southern Poverty Law Center, often present their positions as inherently African, despite their deep connections to Western conservative funding. Advertisement
This duplicity came to the fore ahead of the conference in Nairobi when it was revealed that the preliminary list of speakers consisted entirely of white men.
During the event, participants were urged to “resist growing trends that seek to redefine marriage, weaken the institution of family, or devalue human sexuality” and to rise up to defend the African family from a “new colonialism”.
Yet the fact is that the narrative of preserving tradition that was on full display at the conference is far from organic. Instead, it itself continues a pattern established during the colonial era, when imperial powers imposed patriarchal norms and strict social hierarchies under the guise of paradoxically both preserving and “civilising” indigenous cultures.
In doing so, missionary and colonial institutions both reimagined and reframed African social structures to align with Victorian ideals, embedding rigid gender roles and heteronormative family models into the social fabric and inventing supposedly ancient and unchanging “traditions” to support them.
The latter were themselves built on self-serving ideas of Africans as “noble savages”, living in happy conformity with supposedly “natural” values, trapped by petrified “culture”, and undisturbed by the moral questions that plagued their civilised Western counterparts from whose corruption they needed to be protected.
As the conference demonstrated, local political actors and governments often support these agendas, either for political expediency or due to genuine alignment with their conservative worldview. There is also support from some quarters of the NGO sector, which gives the movements a veneer of legitimacy while obscuring their colonial roots. Advertisement
The Nairobi conference put the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) in the spotlight when it was accused of endorsing the event by allowing it to be hosted at the Boma Hotel, which it co-owns. Though KRCS has denied any direct involvement in the event, pointing out that it was not involved in the day-to-day decisions of the hotel management, the controversy still highlights the challenges and dangers even well-meaning humanitarian organisations can face.
Humanitarian institutions have historically been complicit in the colonial enterprise, and it is perhaps not surprising that they struggle to see through narratives that seek to solidify colonial agendas under the guise of protecting indigenous values.
Part of the problem is that there is increasing confusion about what approach needs to be taken to address growing calls to “decolonise” the activities of the aid industry. One aspect of this process is a recognition of the primacy of indigenous values and local practices of mutual aid.
However, when organisations fail to critically examine whether the values coded as indigenous or, in this case, “African”, in reality reflect and embed colonial logics and assumptions about indigenous societies, they may inadvertently find themselves perpetuating harmful agendas.
That is why, when faced with narratives such as the ones propagated at the Pan-African Conference on Family Values, it is important to understand the difference between decolonisation and decoloniality.
Though related, the two frameworks are distinct. The first largely focuses on transferring power to the formerly colonised, while the latter deals with the logics and values that are the legacy of colonisation. Advertisement
In the aftermath of the 1960s’ decolonisation, the failure to address coloniality left many African countries saddled with elites, states, and governance arrangements that upheld colonial frameworks and approaches. Kenya itself was a case in point.
In 1967, nearly four years after independence, Masinde Muliro, a prominent Kenyan politician, observed: “Today we have a black man’s Government, and the black man’s Government administers exactly the same regulations, rigorously, as the colonial administration used to do.”
Similarly, aid organisations focusing solely on empowering local actors could end up reinforcing the deliberate reframing of regressive, colonial-era values as authentic African traditions.
Confusing decolonisation for decoloniality risks legitimising harmful ideologies by allowing them to masquerade as cultural preservation. Recognising the historical roots of these supposed traditions is essential, not just for humanitarian agencies but for societies at large. Without this awareness, we risk enabling movements that use tradition as a weapon to oppress, rather than as a tool to heal and unify.
The lesson is clear: to genuinely move forward, we must be willing to constantly reflect on how colonial legacies continue to shape contemporary cultural and social norms and debates. Only then can we build a future rooted in genuine, diverse, and inclusive understandings of African identity.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
The entire first season of Motorheads centered around Ryan Phillippe‘s mysterious — and missing — onscreen brother Christian Maddox, but who does the cast want to see fill the role in season 2?During the Prime Video series, which premiered on Tuesday, May 20, Logan’s (Phillippe) brother Christian was seen in flashbacks before disappearing after a botched heist. The season ended by hinting that adult Christian could still be alive — and the show’s stars Michael Cimino, Melissa Collazo, Uriah Shelton, Nicolas Cantu, Mia Healey, Josh Macqueen and Drake Rodger have some ideas as to who could fill his mysterious shoes.
Both Collazo, 24, and Cantu, 21, floated the idea of Hayden Christensen joining the show.
“I would love it if it was Hayden Christensen,” Shelton, 28, exclusively told Us Weekly during the press junket. “I would have a hard time not making Star Wars jokes — but I feel like he’s used to that.”
Meanwhile Cimino, 25, pitched Ethan Hawke — even though he is older than Phillippe, 50, adding, “Just as an actor that I would love to work: Ethan Hawke. I would die to work with Ethan Hawke and for him to be my onscreen dad. That would be so sick.”
Macqueen, 23, suggested James Spader to Us, while Rodger, 26, circled back to his The Winchesters costar Jensen Ackles.
“I would love Jensen. He would be fun. I feel like Jensen and Ryan could play siblings,” Rodger added. “I just don’t know if Jensen could play Ryan’s younger sibling but [we can pretend].”
Motorheads “follows a group of outsiders in a once-thriving Rust Belt town as they form an unlikely friendship over a mutual love of automobiles.” In addition to the main cast, Phillippe’s son, Deacon, was cast in the role of a younger Christian. (Nathalie Kelley and Matt Lanter make up the rest of the adult cast.)
“It’s so unique to be in a situation like this where you’re both working on a show with really good people,” Phillippe exclusively told Us at the show’s Los Angeles premiere earlier this month. “It definitely wasn’t lost on either of us. There were times when we would look at each other and just be like, ‘Can you believe that we’re actually doing this?’”
Motorheads executive producers John A. Norris and Jason Seagraves recalled the process of bringing Deacon, 21, onto the show.
“I’ve known Ryan for quite a while now, so to actually get to work with him and see how professional he is and he comes to work prepared every single day,” Seagraves shared with Us. “He just brought so much heart to it and [we] couldn’t be more fortunate to have him.”
Norris, meanwhile, opened up about how Phillippe supported his son, emphasizing that no strings were pulled in Deacon’s favor.
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“Him showing up [to set] — not to play Logan — but because his son was there was really sweet. He really was not involved in the hiring of Deacon,” Norris told Us. “We sort of kept it from him for a little while. Then we came to him and yeah, he would show up.”
Norris continued: “He just didn’t show up the night that [Deacon] had a kiss scene, but it was just super sweet. He loves that kid so much and it shows. And him showing up as the proud dad was pretty great.”
Motorheads is currently streaming on Prime Video.
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“If this was about getting food to the people of Gaza, there are existing organisations that are very well-experienced in doing that.”Political analyst Omar Baddar says Israel’s decision to allow limited food aid into Gaza–through a new US-backed foundation– should not to be celebrated. There’s been a total blockade on Gaza since March 2. The US and Israel say a new organisation is needed to ensure aid does not reach Hamas.
A soaring death toll in the Gaza Strip and an increasingly vocal outcry over near-famine conditions in the Palestinian territory are piling pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a negotiated ceasefire with Hamas and drop his country’s near-total blockade of the enclave. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said Tuesday that at least 87 people were killed by Israeli military strikes over the last 24 hours alone. The Israel Defense Forces have ramped up operations in Gaza over the last week, killing hundreds of people, many of them women and children, in what Netanyahu’s government insists is legitimate self-defense and aimed entirely at securing the return of 58 hostages still held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza, and destroying the group. Israel blames Hamas — long designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and the European Union — for all casualties in Gaza, accusing the group of operating in and around civilian infrastructure. On Monday, for the first time in two and a half months, Netanyahu permitted a handful of trucks carrying aid to enter Gaza. He said he had been pressured into easing the total blockade by allies who could not tolerate “images of mass famine.”
Palestinians, struggling with hunger due to an Israeli blockade, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by charity organizations in Jabalia Refugee Camp, in Gaza City, Gaza, May 17, 2025.
Mahmoud ssa/Anadolu/Getty
There were unconfirmed reports on Tuesday that as many as 100 trucks had been allowed to cross the Gaza border. But the United Nations’ World Food Program said this week that a few trucks would be just a drop in the bucket given the vast and urgent need for food in Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians have been trapped for more than two years of blistering war.Thousands of trucks have been lined up for weeks just across the Gaza border, waiting to cross in. No food, fresh water or medicine had entered the territory for nearly 80 days under the Israeli blockade. Hunger is so rife that full-blown famine is once again stalking Gaza’s population, according to the WFP’s director for the Palestinian territories, Antoine Renard, who’s just returned from the enclave.”You have around an estimated 14,000 children that I know are facing what we call severe acute malnutrition,” he told CBS News on Monday, meaning those children could die without rapid intervention. “We always wait for when ‘famine’ is on. But when famine is on, it’s already too late. That will be a failure of all the international community.”
A girl suffering from severe malnutrition receives treatment at the Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, May 17, 2025.
CBS News
Until this week, Israel’s government had insisted there were no food shortages in Gaza. But for the first time, in a message posted Monday on social media, Netanyahu acknowledged that Gaza is nearing a hunger crisis.
“Our best friends in the world, senators that I know as enthusiastic Israel supporters, who I know for many years, are come to me and telling me, ‘we give you all the support for a final victory — arms, support on your maneuvers to destroy Hamas, support at the U.N. Security Council. There is one thing we cannot endure — pictures of mass famine. This is something we are unable to witness. We will not be able to support you.'” As a result of that pressure, he’s allowing the limited amount of aid into Gaza.Renard said the WFP had sufficient food on standby, ready to enter, to feed the entire population of Gaza for a month. “It must stop,” he said of the Israeli blockade. “The civilian population shouldn’t be trapped. There’s no reason, actually, to hold them accountable for what they are not part of.”
Netanyahu did not name any of the nations exerting pressure on his government to ease the blockade, and while Israel’s closest and most vital ally the U.S. was almost certainly the country he referred to when mentioning long-friendly senators, it’s not just the U.S. calling for a resolution to the crisis — and other countries have been doing so more assertively.In a strongly worded statement published Monday, the leaders of the U.K., France and Canada called the level of human suffering in Gaza intolerable, and they threatened to take action. “The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” the countries said in a joint statement. “We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”Netanyahu decried the threat, saying in a statement that by “asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.””The war can end tomorrow if the remaining hostages are released, Hamas lays down its arms, its murderous leaders are exiled and Gaza is demilitarized,” said the Israeli leader. “No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t. This is a war of civilization over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”Israel has escalated its war with a new offensive that has killed nearly 600 people over the last week, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Doctors are running out of supplies — barely able to treat malnourished children, let alone the hundreds of people injured by the Israeli strikes who stream in day after day.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and left 251 others as hostages in Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, displaced 90% of its population — most of them multiple times — and killed more than 53,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Three German-Russian dual citizens have gone on trial in Munich accused of spying on behalf of the Kremlin and planning attacks on critical military infrastructure and industry.The alleged spies are said to have found codewords for military goods and gathered confidential information about an oil refinery in Bavaria and a US military training area near the town of Grafenwöhr in the east of the state. The men are also said to have made plans to carry out bomb attacks on buildings and infrastructure used to support Ukraine.The suspected ringleader, identified only as Dieter S in line with German privacy rules, is accused of coordinating a plot with the specific aim of undermining Germany’s support for Ukraine through acts of sabotage.He is on trial alongside Alexander J and Alex D, who are suspected of having supported his actions working at the behest of a foreign intelligence service.The trio were arrested in April 2024 by Bavarian police close to the town of Bayreuth.Dieter S faces additional charges for allegedly taking photographs and videos of military installations, a loading station and a tool manufacturing company, of hatching plans to cause an explosion and arson, and for preparing a grave act of violence threatening to state security.He is also charged with membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, having allegedly been active as a fighter for the pro-Russian separatists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine since 2014. According to the federal prosecutor’s office, it was during this period that he met the Russian intelligence agent with whom he is believed to have “exchanged information”, prosecutors allege, discussing possible sabotage operations in Germany starting in autumn 2023. The two men are alleged to have started to help Dieter S from March 2024.Alexander J and Alex D had admitted to some of the alleged offences but “denied any knowledge of spying” for a foreign government, the court spokesperson Laurent Lafleur told Agence France-Presse.Dieter S denied all the charges against him, Lafleur said.With Germany on high alert over threats of sabotage and espionage, three Ukrainians were arrested in Germany and Switzerland last week on similar charges. They were allegedly planning to carry out attacks on cargo transport in Germany on behalf of Russia. According to the federal prosecutor’s office, they were plotting to send packages containing explosive devices to recipients in Ukraine that would “detonate during transport”.European intelligence services also suspect Russia of being behind a similar plot to plant explosive devices on cargo planes, which led to the explosion within days of each other of parcels at loading facilities belonging to DHL in Leipzig, Germany, Birmingham in the UK, and Warsaw, Poland.An additional 40 court dates for the trial in the southern German city have been set to last into late December.
