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CBS makes a surprise U-turn on SWAT once again

SWAT Season 7 was set to be the final season, but CBS has made a U-turn again. It turns out we're getting an eighth season.

ByAlexandria Ingham|
“End of the Road” – While training with Long Beach SWAT, Street discovers a biker club has stolen a cache of armor-piercing bullets and brings 20-Squad into the hunt for the gang before they can pull off a daring and deadly heist. As Hondo struggles with changes at work, Nichelle finds herself at odds with her former colleague Bruce, in part two of a two-part episode of S.W.A.T., Friday, March 8 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand
“End of the Road” – While training with Long Beach SWAT, Street discovers a biker club has stolen a cache of armor-piercing bullets and brings 20-Squad into the hunt for the gang before they can pull off a daring and deadly heist. As Hondo struggles with changes at work, Nichelle finds herself at odds with her former colleague Bruce, in part two of a two-part episode of S.W.A.T., Friday, March 8 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand

It’s not often that CBS will change course on TV show cancellation decisions, but it has once against with SWAT. We will now get an eighth season.

Back in 2023 CBS opted to cancel SWAT when it and Sony couldn’t come to an agreement over the licensing free and episode count. However, the cancellation came with uproar from the fans and the two went back to the negotiating table, U-tuning on the cancellation just days later.

The decision was that we would get a 13-episode final season. Well, now CBS has U-turned again.

CBS renews SWAT for Season 8

Deadline reports that the show will now get an eighth season. It is also set to be a full 22-episode season.

What isn’t known is the details of the decision. Does it mean that CBS is happier with the ratings to pay the flat rate license? Did Sony decide that it would be better to accept a reduced licensing fee?

It's worth noting that SWAT Season 8 hasn't been billed as a final season. This opens the chance for CBS to renew the show again. However, the writers may want to make sure the finale works as a series finale just in case.

What does this mean for the Season 7 finale?

There had been talk of this renewal happening when the cast shared social media posts of the “Season 7” finale. Usually, this would be promoted as the series finale, which suggested the cast had an idea that the finale wouldn’t be the last episode ever.

Of course, now fans want to know what this means about the Season 7 finale in terms of story. It was written as the series finale. We’ve seen how the season so far has been set up as the end, with Luca forced into retirement and Street moving on to lead his own team. Even Deac is on the verge of retirement. It seemed almost certain that is the way things would play out.

While the finale has been written as a series finale and would have worked as that, it turns out the writers have also kept things open to allow for another season. So, no rewrites and extra filming are needed. The finale will still air on Friday, May 17, but it will now be the Season 7 finale and not the series finale.

Of course, Blue Bloods fans would like CBS to do a U-turn on that series as well. After all, the linear ratings suggest that it should be renewed over a few other shows.

SWAT airs Fridays at 8/7c on CBS.

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