Jay Harrington is breaking his silence on Shemar Moore‘s S.W.A.T. spinoff — revealing he had no idea there was anything in development.
Harrington, 53, who played Deacon since the show premiered on CBS in 2017, was asked by TVLine on Tuesday, June 3, whether there was talk of a spinoff, to which he replied, “No. No. Not once. Not at all.”
Despite S.W.A.T‘s multiple cancellations, Harrington didn’t rule out a return in the future.
“Because of the way things had happened over the years with [S.W.A.T.] being cancelled, coming back, I had the thought, ‘OK, we could come back,’” he noted. “There’s a chance, you never say die, especially with the streaming world and such. My choices in my head were that, or it’s over. I did not have a spinoff on my bingo card, for sure.”
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Sony Pictures Television announced in May — two days after the eighth and final season wrapped on CBS — a spinoff was in development starring Shemar Moore with a new cast. The decision received backlash since Harrington, David Lim, Patrick St. Esprit, Anna Enger Ritch, Annie Ilonzeh and Niko Pepaj all expressed interest in reprising their roles in a future project as a team.
“[I found out about S.W.A.T Exiles] the day before. Shemar reached out to all of us to say, ‘This is what’s going on,’” Harrington revealed. “There’s talk that they’ll reach out to us about stuff. He wanted to be the one to tell us, and say ‘Your reps will find out shortly.’ That’s when I told my reps, and they had no idea.”
Harrington clarified he wasn’t upset with Moore, 55, for signing onto the show solo, adding, “Look, I’ll be very clear. I’ve been in this business for a long time. You don’t get ‘owed’ things just because you put in your time. If that’s the route they’re going to go, I wish it success. It’s just a fine line between ‘owed’ and ‘just let me know.’ For the studio just to say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking. It’s a new idea, but this is the route we gotta go, and unfortunately the way it’s structured, we want to make a clean break, start fresh.’”
He continued: “Well, what do you say to that? ‘OK, well, good luck!’ So if there was any disappointment, it’s that when they announced it, we weren’t mentioned at all. That was it. And it was short-lived because I thought, ‘I’m not going to let that take away from what I know in my heart is eight years of putting in some great work.’”
Harrington admitted there was some hurt — but he wouldn’t let it overshadow the S.W.A.T legacy.
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“As a human being, of course you’re going to feel stung, but again, I didn’t want to go to that place because I thought, truthfully, ‘It’s show business.’ It’s a business,” he said before addressing what could have been done differently with the announcement, “Maybe the wording. I get that it’s a new concept, but there’s the fact that, ‘Well, you can’t can’t have that concept without the success of the former.’ That was all.”
According to Harrington, Moore took the time to tell them all “one by one” about Exiles, sharing, “It was a text, and then he said, ‘I’m around if you want to give me a call.’ So I texted him later and said, ‘I’m sure you did your best.’ We’ve been brothers for years, so that doesn’t change.”
Moore, for his part, addressed the backlash, explaining in an Instagram video, “Nobody likes change. I understand that. I get it 100 percent. But without change, you can’t grow. You can’t win without taking your lumps. It ain’t easy making it in the game of Hollywood. It ain’t. TV shows don’t last eight years anymore. The game has changed. But S.W.A.T. Exiles, baby! S.W.A.T. Exiles. Bigger, bolder. S.W.A.T. on steroids.”
While defending the decision, Moore compared the spinoff to a football game, adding, “I’m not saying I’m Tom Brady, but I’m the Tom Brady of S.W.A.T. That’s not arrogant. That’s not ego. It’s a fact. I’m the quarterback. I’m Shemar Moore a.k.a Hondo. But I had a squad. A strong squad. A family. A team. And I would be remiss If I didn’t say out loud to the world and to them — because I know they’re watching this — I love you. I respect you. I appreciate you.”
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Harrington noted that he understood what Moore was going for.
“I know what he was trying to say, and the benefit of the doubt will be given to him because I’ve known him for so long. Because he and I talk sports all the time,” he explained. “As he’ll tell you, he’s from the Bay but his love is for Boston, so we talk sports all the time, and sports analogies are tricky because in this case, we weren’t “traded,” we were released.”
Harrington sided with Moore, saying, “I heard about it — I didn’t see it — and then when I saw it, I said, ‘I know this guy and he’s not trying to diminish us.’” Because, hey, if he’s using that analogy, Julian Edelman. Rob Gronkowski — they’re pretty solid athletes themselves and [potential] Hall of Famers. I tried to not take that as a personal anything. I think that when you make analogies, sometimes you have it in your head of what you mean and maybe it doesn’t come off as you thought.”
While reflecting on his time on S.W.A.T, Harrington said he felt a sense of “calmness” about the experience.
“What has been so heartwarming is to see the fans’ reaction to this news, because I get people coming up and saying things, people writing comments [on social media],” he concluded. “I’ve seen how it means a lot to them, or, ‘This was something we watched in my family.’ But to see that much at once was overwhelming.”
