Shemar Moore Praises ‘SWAT’ Season 8 Weathering Budget Cuts and Airtime Changes: ‘Against All Odds’

Shemar Moore is stoked that S.W.A.T. season 8 is around the corner.

Moore, 54, spoke exclusively to Us Weekly at the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 2, dishing on the previously canceled show’s return to the small screen.

Moore told Us that “none of us expected” an eighth season, but he certainly hoped for one. “I can't say that I expected it,” he told Us . “That would be a little arrogant, but I I believed in it. I really did. And I knew it was against all odds, but I don't know — that's been my whole life.”

“That's been the way my mother raised me,” Moore continued. “If they don't knock you out and they put you on a knee, that's all right. But you get up. … I'm just proud of what we've accomplished in seven seasons. … They've cut our budgets and we made it happen. They moved us around this night or that night or that time slot through the seasons. We made it happen.”

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The actor noted that at the start of the seventh season, he was prepared to say farewell to the smash-hit series by making it so fans “don’t want us to leave.”

“We made them think, and the fans screamed and yelled and the powers that be listened,” the Criminal Minds alum added.

Moore, who plays the lead role of Sergeant II Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson on S.W.A.T. , also spoke to Us about how he sees his character evolving.

“I know he’s a family man,” Moore explained. “Now he's got a wife and a little girl, which art imitates life.” (Moore and his girlfriend, Jesiree Dizon , share daughter Frankie, 15 months.)

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Moore, however, said he doesn’t want S.W.A.T. to “become a soap opera.”

“We're S.W.A.T. — you know that theme song, man,” he said. “I want to keep that thrill ride going. But I love when we get topical. I love when we get grounded. We have a great sense of camaraderie and chemistry that you see on the show.

Moore noted that plays a “superhero” on the show, which he notes “is a good thing.”

When Dizon, 40, was asked what it was like dating a superhero, she replied, “It’s fun. … He’s the same at home. Not so serious but just like that — kind of fun. You know, [like a] dad!”

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Dizon explained that she gives Moore “plenty of space and time to sleep when he needs to sleep” after long days on set.

“And chicken and rice!” Moore quipped. “She makes a mean chicken and rice.”

S.W.A.T. debuted in 2017 and tracks Harrelson and his team of tough cops battling crime in Los Angeles. The eighth season is slated to air this fall with 22 episodes. This renewal is unexpected, given CBS’ earlier declaration that season 7 would mark the show's conclusion.

With reporting by Kevin Zelman