Jay Harrington on Shemar Moore’s S.W.A.T. Spinoff Without OG Cast, Tom Brady Comparison

Talking about filming that series finale with TVLine, Harrington said he had in the back of his mind the possibility that the series could maybe avoid cancellation — after all it had happened not once, but twice before. “I did not have a spin-off on my bingo card, for sure,” he said.

When asked about rumors in some reports about a possible S.W.A.T. Academy spinoff, Harrington reportedly chuckled as he replied, “I read that. That was the ‘quality control piece’ in Variety. I read that and I thought, “Well, jeez.” I mean, Deacon has run SWAT academy for I-don’t-how-many years. Can’t go that route!”

So when did he get the Exiles news? “It was the day before [the announcement],” Harrington said. “Shemar [Moore] reached out to to all of us to say, “This is what’s going on…,” and, you know, 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.'”

While there’s been no official word about any cast members from S.W.A.T. appearing on the new series, neither has there been any confirmation they would. Harrington said when he told his reps about the new series, “they had no idea.”

When asked if Moore had contacted them collectively or individually, and if he had called, Harrington said he received a text message: “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.”

As for the announcement itself, Harrington’s thoughts on that were an echo of what fellow OG star David Lim said last week. “If there was any disappointment, it’s that when they announced it, we weren’t mentioned at all. That was it,” Harrington said. “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.”

“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.”

In a post to his Instagram last week, Lim wrote, “I’d be lying if I said the rollout of the new spinoff didn’t sting. It was tough to see it announced just two days after our finale — with no mention of the cast who helped build S.W.A.T. from day one.”

“After 8 incredible seasons, it felt like we were brushed aside when there could’ve been a moment of reflection and recognition — for the people who built this show, and for the impact it had on so many.”

You can read the rest of Lim’s lengthy post here.

Moore stirred up some controversy just two days after the announcement with his video statement comparing himself to Tom Brady. Saying that he expected he might “catch some flack from the industry,” he said, “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 AKA Hondo.”

Particularly in the early seasons of S.W.A.T. the narrative was very much a Deacon v. Hondo, with their differing approaches and styles driving much of the internal conflict and emotional beats of the show.

“We forged that for a couple of years, and then when the writers pivoted and we were able to let Deacon let it go, that also was a lot of fun to play. Even down to the last episode where I say what I said and I give the team some watches and Hondo says, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you’ — that was a nod from the writers to acknowledge that.”

Moore acknowledged that as well in his video, saying, “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. That’s my family for life, OK?”

“But just like in sports, Tom Brady might be the quarterback, but people get traded,” Moore continued. “Tight ends get traded, the running back gets traded, the receivers get traded. But the team keeps on pushing with their quarterback, and I’m that guy.”

When asked about Moore’s Brady comparison, Harrington said he knows what his longtime costar was trying to say, “and the benefit of the doubt will be given to him because I’ve known him for so long.” At the same time, he said the analogy doesn’t quite hold up, “because in this case, we weren’t ‘traded,’ we were released.”

“I tried to not take that as a personal anything,” Harrington added. “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 as you thought.”

While saying he’ll always leave the door open to coming back if invited — and he wouldn’t shut down a Better Off Ted revival either — Harrington said that he’s thought about his takeaway from this whole experience when people ask him, “What did you feel? Were you disappointed? Were you mad? Were you hurt?”

“I was thinking about it and the way I put it is: Imagine you have a relationship for eight years and you go your separate ways and you break up, and it’s on decent terms,” he said, “and then two days later you see your ex announce their engagement.”

“It’s like, “Oh, OK. You’re already with somebody and you’re getting married,” he added. “And I’m not invited to the wedding.”