Starz has officially renewed the gritty police drama SWAT Exiles for Season 2.

S.W.A.T. Exiles is a darker Starz spinoff starring Shemar Moore as Hondo Harrelson, set two years after the original series. After a failed operation and time away from the LAPD, Hondo is assigned to lead an inexperienced squad he believes has been set up to fail. The series gives Hondo a troubled personal life, including a divorce from Nichelle and grief over his mother; Moore said he proposed these changes to take the character in a new direction. Rochelle Aytes did not appear in Season 1 because of her work on Watson but may be available for Season 2, which has been renewed. Moore says filming is expected to begin in the fall, and he is training for the demanding role.
Moore described the spinoff’s style as markedly different from the original, saying, “It looks darker; it feels darker,” with writing that is “a little more complex, a little more controversial.”
Moore said politics have taken over within the LAPD in the spinoff’s timeline, and described the new squad as LAPD rejects who are deliberately being set up to fail by “the machine.”
A review of the first four episodes says Hondo’s departure followed an operation gone wrong that put him at the center of an intense internal-affairs investigation; Commander Hicks later brings him back into the LAPD fold.
Moore said his preparation for Season 2 includes working out two hours a day, five days a week, plus using a sauna and cold plunge and getting deep-tissue massages and physical therapy.
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