When we spoke a year ago — for what was supposedly the “final” season — you hinted maybe there was still some life left in the show. Did you know something?
I didn’t have any inside information. It just didn’t make sense to me. We were popular on Netflix [in reruns], Charles Barkley loves us, Howard Stern loves us . . . So, I got bold and I said a little something on social media, and any talk show I went on. I wanted to stay optimistic. It was my way of letting the network and studio know — and the fans — that I want to keep playing. My whole throughline was, “Make it make sense.” Are you not making enough money? The numbers are there. We’re winning our night. I was like, “They say it’s over — but what if it’s not?” It was my way of poking the bear.
Once the show was renewed, did you also feel a renewed sense of purpose?
I wanted to make sweatshirts for the crew: “Uncancelled — twice!” [laughs] . . . It put a positive chip on our shoulder. “Oh, they keep doubting us.” The actors, the producers, the writers and the crew — we come to work and there’s a lot of pride to being uncancelled twice. Now we’re like, “Let’s make it even harder for them to think about cancelling us.”
How is Hondo a different man today than when we first met him?
Man, he’s a seasoned leader who thinks of everyone else first — but now he has a dilemma. He has to rethink life. That’s his calling, but he has a little girl, he has a wife. When he leaves the house, just like in real life with women and men of law enforcement, you may not make it home to your family.
Police misconduct is at the forefront of the social discourse more than ever now. Does that change the game for anyone who sets out to make a cop show?
Yeah, we don’t want to be saints. But we’re a TV show. We don’t want to preach to you. We don’t want to make you feel down. We’re a fun, action-packed show. But we are topical. We talk about school shootings. We talk about suicide-by-cop. I was very proud to take on #BlackLivesMatter. Again, we’re not a political show, we don’t tell you what to believe — but I do believe we are thought-provoking. From the pilot on forward, Hondo’s purpose that gets challenged at times is he wants to bridge the gap between Black and Blue. Hondo, the same way as Shemar, he sees colour but he doesn’t judge by colour. We both judge by character . . . Why not portray cops to be good, but not perfect? To be human. Maybe that causes a dialogue, causes patience, causes people to give men and women of law enforcement a chance. There are bad cops out there. There are bad people out there. Let’s embrace and root for the good.
Can we expect to see you on the Criminal Minds reboot anytime soon?
I’ll answer it this way: I haven’t gotten the call . . . The people at The Young and the Restless will always be family. The people at Criminal Minds will always be family. Now, I have a new family at S.W.A.T. But none of my characters have died. If I get the call to go to The Young and the Restless, obviously I’m busy with S.W.A.T., but I would make time. Same thing with Criminal Minds. Would I be a series regular? No, but I’d go back and play for a day or two or three. I’ve just got to get the call.
S.W.A.T. airs Friday, March 14, on Global & CBS
MEMORABLE ROLES:
He was born in Oakland, but you first met Shemar Moore as a resident of Genoa City, Wisconsin — playing sexy photographer Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1994-2005. After that, he moved to primetime as FBI profiler Derek Morgan on serial killer thriller Criminal Minds from 2005 until his exit in 2016.
CURRENT GIG:
Since 2017, Moore has donned the vest of LAPD Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, stalwart team leader on CBS’s hit remake S.W.A.T. The action-packed cop drama is now in the middle of season eight after battling its way back from cancellation — not once, but twice.