Entertainment
How S.W.A.T. Exiles Helped Sony Pictures TV Unlock a New Model
For Sony Pictures TV President Katherine Pope, the start, stop and repeat of “S.W.A.T.” is the classic Hollywood story.
The Shemar Moore-led procedural escaped cancellation not once but twice as CBS attempted to wind down the long-running series to make room for new shows in development, only to be rescued through fan support and modestly strong ratings. After getting two extra seasons of life out of CBS, “S.W.A.T.” eventually reached the end of its road with its eighth installment in May 2025.
But Sony Pictures TV, which co-produced “S.W.A.T.” alongside CBS Studios, knew there was still a hunger for the show and Moore’s Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, and made the bold decision to greenlight a spinoff series headlined by Moore — without a distributor attached. Instead, Sony stood as the sole producer and distributor of “S.W.A.T. Exiles,” avoiding the destruction of sets and enabling the studio to jump right back into production with much of the Los Angeles-based “S.W.A.T.” crew returning.
Sony bypassed the sometimes years of development that could’ve seen “S.W.A.T. Exiles” stalled at a streamer or network — if it even made it to air at all — by taking on a fair amount of risk to front production in the hopes it would eventually find a distributor. The success of the project, which eventually landed at Starz, also unlocked a new model for Sony Pictures TV of self-financing projects the company believes in, opening a new avenue for studios to land that increasingly elusive green light.
“In today’s world the timelines are just so … challenging — everything takes so long to get greenlit, and then it takes so long to get a second season,” Pope told TheWrap. “Those timelines, for me as a business person, are tough [and] for me as a fan, are tough … Time is the enemy of an efficient production … Time is money.”
From cancellation to green light
While CBS reversed its decision to cancel “S.W.A.T.” twice after both Season 6 and 7, Sony knew going into the eighth season that it would truly be the last.
“They were pretty straightforward and transparent with us that they had some newer franchises [and] … good development they really liked,” Pope said. “Eight seasons, that many episodes — that’s a gift in today’s world.”
Pope revealed Sony had been discussing a spinoff for “S.W.A.T.” “over many years,” and Moore was fully on board.
“When Sony comes to you, and Neil Moritz comes to you, and Katherine Pope come to you and say, ‘Hey, do you want to work?’ You don’t say no,” Moore told TheWrap. “Shows are getting canceled left and right … It’s politics, it’s business. I take it very seriously, and so I’m going to go out guns blazing … This will end one day, but today’s not that day.”
Sony presented the opportunity to CBS, though it wasn’t a match for the network. “They felt like they really had some newer franchises they were excited about,” Pope said. “There was no ill will whatsoever.”
Sony entertained some conversations at other potential distributors early on in the process, but it quickly became apparent that shopping around the spinoff would significantly extend the timeline, killing the momentum for the project.
“We got to a place where we were like, if we wait, if we take this out and shop it … we’re going to lose the stages, which we already had. We didn’t want to lose our crew,” Pope said.
She added: “Although this became a business decision and a decision about sort of diversifying our portfolio, it really was at first just a very practical decision of we got to get this thing going so we can keep the team in place and also do this economically.”
Maintaining the production team was likewise as much of a quality decision as it was a business decision, with Pope noting the core crew are experts in shooting the action that come with a show like “S.W.A.T.” But Pope also had the confidence in the crew’s ability to stay on budget, revealing that the production number was essentially the same season-after-season, which would be necessary as the studio shouldered the risk of self-financing the production.
With that, Sony seized the moment and gave a 10-episode order to “S.W.A.T. Exiles” in May 2025, just days after the series finale aired on CBS.
Expanding past procedural
Sony tapped Jason Ning (“Lucifer,” “The Brothers Sun”), who had an overall deal with the studio, as the series showrunner, whose philosophy for the spinoff relied on honoring the original without repeating it, instead embracing a grittier tone and more serialization that differentiated it from the flagship’s procedural format.
“The exciting thing wasn’t just simply bringing Hondo back; it was showing audiences a Hondo they haven’t seen before,” Ning said. “It’s a Hondo who’s angrier and more wounded and more vulnerable.”
The spinoff, which premieres Friday on Starz, introduces a version of Hondo whose faith in the institution he’s devoted his life to has been shaken, leading him to step away from the force. It’s then that he’s met with the challenge of working with “an impossible group of young recruits who challenge how he thinks … leadership is supposed to work,” welcoming in an intergenerational conflict as Gen Z enters the picture.
While “S.W.A.T.” wooed the broadcast audience on CBS for eight seasons, Moore believes the new dynamic will draw in a Gen Z audience.
“I think the Gen Z crowd is going to turn on ‘S.W.A.T. [Exiles]’ and go, ‘Yo … Hondo’s the OG,’” he said. “It’s going to make youngsters out there fantasize about being in their position.”
The hope is that the spinoff can both satisfy fans who would’ve loved the original series to go on for another decade while also bringing in a new crop of viewers. “If you love ‘S.W.A.T.,’ you’ll immediately recognize something you love, but … if you’ve never seen it, there’s a clean on-ramp,” Ning said.
Finding a home
Over a year after Sony’s green light, “S.W.A.T. Exiles” landed at Starz, a frequent Sony partner that distributes the “Outlander” franchise, in what Pope calls a “dream” partnership.
“Much like Starz’s standout, long-running franchises ‘Power’ and ‘Outlander,’ ‘S.W.A.T.’ has demonstrated a remarkable ability to connect with audiences and sustain a loyal fan base for more than a decade,” Starz President Alison Hoffman told TheWrap, noting the show brings in a “passionate” viewership that has been eagerly waiting for more.
“S.W.A.T. Exiles” also fits into Starz’s goal of building franchises that “champion diversity both on screen and behind the camera,” which Hoffman notes the network has seen success with via the “Power” universe, which has generated five spinoffs with more than 200 episodes to date.
“We look for series that become essential viewing for audiences, week-after-week, and can evolve into enduring franchises,” Hoffman said. “‘S.W.A.T. Exiles’ is well-positioned to do both.”
In fact, Starz’s audience analysis already found an overlap between “S.W.A.T.” viewers and Starz subscribers, but the key will be whether it can also lure in new subscribers, with Hoffman noting Starz will decide on a Season 2 green light based on the show’s ability to “attract new subscribers, deepen engagement among existing viewers and expand the reach and impact of the Starz brand.”
But Sony is so confident in its spinoff that it renewed “S.W.A.T. Exiles” for a second season — which Pope hopes will indicate to viewers “this is a show I can count on” — without Starz’s commitment.
“The early momentum has been incredibly encouraging,” Hoffman said, noting that a decision on Season 2 will be made based on “total viewership across our platforms and distribution partners, along with how audiences engage with and respond to the series throughout the season.”
Unlocking a new model
Pope noted the internal green light from Sony marks a great risk in a way she’s never seen over the course of her career, but it felt like an appropriate time to take a chance given how well Sony has been doing across the board, pointing to the box office success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which became the highest-grossing film in the history of the domestic box office.
“TV used to be very much a deficit business and a risk-based business, and we got to … streaming deals where you didn’t have to take on risk, and that’s great. I think those deals … make sense still, but we also got to a place where we wanted to do different models,” Pope said.
Taking that green light power enables Pope and her team to champion the projects they believe in. But the financials have to make sense, with Pope noting this model wouldn’t work for a grandiose series like “God of War,” which is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios with Prime Video attached as the streamer.
“The No. 1 thing about this model is it has to be able to be produced at a number, and you can’t take something and just cut around the edges and try and get it down,” Pope said. “It’s not nothing. It’s a big number. It’s a lot of risk, but … it’s not $15 million dollars an episode.”
IP and star power — both of which “Exiles” have — can make self-financing an easier sell, though Pope notes “the nice thing about some of these structures is sometimes just the idea, the concept of the show is the selling point, and you can break some stars … you can find ways to not have it all be so unwieldy or so expensive.” And shooting in Los Angeles continues to be a priority for the studio.
“Exiles” also gave Sony a prime opportunity to diversify its portfolio from the bigger budget series they’ve had success on via streaming of late that take much longer to produce, with Pope noting “every show you make can’t be ‘The Boys’ or ‘God of War.’”
“While I think we have a real skill with world-building … let’s make sure our portfolio is diversified enough [that] … we’re also doing something that is in our world and that’s equally as important,” Pope said.
Whether or not Starz picks up Season 2, Sony is rewriting Hollywood’s rules with “S.W.A.T. Exiles.”
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John Sloss’s Cinetic Media has launched Vertical Leap, an investment vehicle and producing pathway for professional athletes.
The initiative is designed to give athletes/members “a working seat inside Cinetic’s slate, with access to rough cuts, creative input, and the same industry guidance the company provides the filmmakers behind its most successful projects.”
The end goal is for member athletes to build a production career off the back of their training in the program.
Cost for athletes to become members is $25,000 per year with participants pitched a minimum of 10 documentary projects “vetted from established, profitable directors and producers”.
Investors are then able to back additional projects should they get the bug. The opportunities are in docs for now, but Sloss told Deadline that members are already asking about potential investment in non-doc projects.
Sloss says he has signed up 10 “prominent” athletes, with plans to expand the pool up to 50 current and former players. He’s keen to attract athletes from different sports — including tennis, hockey, cricket, darts etc — but says so far the biggest demand has come from NFL and NBA. Deadline understands that three college footballers — from the Michigan Wolverines — are pooling part of their NIL together for a membership.
To fuel the new initiative two people have been repositioned from the Cinetic team and Sloss says he expects to add a few more employees for the label. The program was trailed in Puck yesterday and Sloss will discuss it publicly for the first time on stage at today’s Zurich Summit.
Said Cinetic founder and CEO, John Sloss: “Vertical Leap offers a pathway for elite athletes to support commercial, impactful documentaries, while learning the ins-and-outs of film production from the most experienced storytellers working today. It is also a way for them to build something lasting beyond their playing days, expanding their brand, deepening their creative voice, and putting real equity behind the stories they believe in.”
He continued: “For the documentary community, Vertical Leap brings the adrenaline jolt of a new class of collaborators, athletes with real creative instincts and the reach to bring documentary storytelling to audiences who might not otherwise find it.”
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One year ago, AI ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood blew up at the Zurich Summit when she was introduced to the industry. The line that emerged from the event at the time was that agents were circling the AI creation.
One year on, Norwood returned to the Summit with her creator Eline van der Velden from AI firm Particle 6.
Deadline’s Diana Lodderhose, moderating a session with the duo, asked van der Velden whether her creation had found an agent in the year since she went viral and has become a regular media fixture.
Van der Velden said: “We’ve realized we we don’t really need her to have a rep. I think she’s big enough as it is. We get loads of offers in. We’ve said no to anything where she would be in a traditional film because that’s not what she’s made for. But yeah, we don’t need it at the moment. So if that makes people happier, that’s fine. But also, what saddens me about that it is that it means the traditional industry can’t participate in this new thing, and that means they fall behind. And so, you know, is it a positive? Is it a negative? I don’t know.”
She said Particle 6 had grown four-fold since it was launched and said that the industry was increasingly accepting that AI is here to stay.
Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman followed up with a question to Norwood herself who joined via video link. Wiseman asked Norwood whether she had met with the major U.S. agencies or Hollywood studios. She didn’t confirm, noting: “I’m certainly in a unique position there. I mean, the industry is still figuring out what to do with AI, so it’s not quite like having a traditional agent in Hollywood just yet. I mostly work on AI films, so it’s a bit of a different lane.”
Van der Velden teased footage of Norwood’s first project, an AI comedy-drama titled Misaligned, which is in production, and showed longer footage of Particle 6 kids movie Storm Dogs, which Deadline revealed yesterday is being developed and exec-produced by The Lion King director Rob Minkoff.
Norwood and van der Velden kicked off the session with a light video poking fun at Norwood’s recent high-profile tech glitch during an interview with Piers Morgan where she began speaking in Chinese. Norwood joked that the episode probably helped Morgan’s ratings.
The tech is clearly still being worked through. While Norwood generally gave answers in the right ball park to questions today, she did at least once give a wonky answer to moderator Lodderhose.
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EXCLUSIVE: Filipino filmmaker and producer Antoinette Jadaone, whose credits include Berlinale award winner Sunshine, is launching a new production outfit Ilaya Ilaya with a slate spanning genre films, television originals and immersive theatre.
Jadaone will run the company with longtime collaborator and producer Reign Anne De Guzman (Sunshine, That Thing Called Tadhana), who has collaborated with her since they both worked at Star Cinema, where Jadaone was a script continuity supervisor and De Guzman a production assistant.
Through their new outfit, the duo aim to champion Filipino cinema, women-led stories, unappreciated genres, and filmmakers whose work struggles to find support outside traditional studio systems and festival funding cycles.
Leading the slate is Birdsong – a found-footage horror film directed by Pam Miras (Medusae) and written by Glenn Barit (Cleaners), with Irene Villamor (The Loved One) on board as creative producer. The film follows an ornithologist who travels to a remote mountain in search of a mythical bird, while also seeking closure over her partner’s disappearance a decade earlier.
The project recently won the Kantana Sound Studio Asian Project Award at the Bangkok International Content Market 2026. “It’s our first time working with Pam Miras as a director, and it is in a genre that is male-dominated,” said Jadaone. “We really love the way Pam handles experimentation in her films.”
Ilaya Ilaya is also developing supernatural comedy Chandra Catacutan And The Curse Of The Fuchsia Moon, set to star Eugene Domingo (Sisa). The film is directed by Tim Rone Villanueva, whose credits include Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana, which caught Jadaone’s attention when it screened Cinemalaya film festival last year.
Domingo plays the eldest daughter of a manananggal – a creature from Philippine folklore that can separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body. In Villanueva’s project, the children of the creature are reunited when she suffers a stroke mid-air and fails to return to her lower half. Jadaone says Villanueva’s work showed the kind of resourcefulness and pop culture fluency she wants Ilaya Ilaya to champion.
The slate also includes Crème de la Crème, a coming-of-age whodunnit to be directed by Irene Emma Villamor. Written by Glenn Barit from a story by Natts Jadaone, the film is partly inspired by a 2006 incident at Philippine Science High School in which two male students laced a classmate’s water jug with mercury nitrate, preventing her from attending the graduation march.
Jadaone herself is returning to directing with Boldstar, a dark comedy starring Angelica Panganiban (That Thing Called Tadhana) and produced by Bianca Balbuena (Sunshine, Filipiñana). The project won the CJ Entertainment Prize at the Asian Project Market in 2019 and was later selected for the Berlinale European Co-Production Market in 2020.
Balbuena said Boldstar emerged from the momentum of Jadaone’s 2020 film Fan Girl and a period of political anger over misogyny and the treatment of women in public life. After several delays, including Panganiban’s pregnancy, Jadaone’s work on Sunshine, and Balbuena’s leadership role at the now defunct Anima Studios, the team is now reviving the project.
“The project feels very ripe and momentous now, especially after Antoinette’s Crystal Bear win in Berlinale and sold-out local screenings of Sunshine,” said Balbuena.
Beyond film, Ilaya Ilaya is expanding into television, with Jadaone showrunning an as-yet-untitled romcom series for Netflix Philippines. Plot and casting details remain under wraps, but the project is co-written with Fatrick Tabada (Flower Girl), marking Jadaone’s return to the genre that helped establish her as a local favorite nearly a decade after Love You To The Stars And Back. Jadaone previously worked with Netflix on Replacing Chef Chico.
“We’re thrilled to partner again with Antoinette Jadaone, whose creative vision and signature ‘kilig’ storytelling have resonated with Filipino audiences everywhere,” said Vitto Lazatin, Director of Content at Netflix Philippines.
Rounding out the slate is an immersive stage adaptation of Sunshine, to be directed by Mikko Angeles (Bar Boys: The Musical) and written by Mika Regis (Unica Hijas), with Racal returning to the role in her stage debut.
The project is envisioned as a choose-your-own-adventure experience that places audiences inside Sunshine’s world, expanding the film’s questions around agency, complicity, and choice beyond the screen.
“When you’re watching a film, you’re there to just watch Sunshine make decisions,” said Jadaone. “But what if Sunshine’s story was something you could hold and influence as an audience member?”
Commenting on the slate overall, Jadaone said: “Before we were filmmakers, we were lovers of Philippine cinema. We want to be more intentional now about telling stories and working with people who demonstrate a genuine love for Philippine cinema.”
De Guzman added: “What I’m most looking forward to is being able to tell stories that we really believe in. Hopefully, through Ilaya Ilaya and the stories we make together, we can get more Filipinos to appreciate and fall in love with Philippine cinema.”
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