CBS’s Swat starring Shemar Moore as Hondo Harrelson has had a great run, confirmed for a final season not long ago. The show is one of CBS’s top guns in the primetime slot. Across its seasons, we’ve seen strong character development, coupled with great action sequences, making it one of the most expensive shows for CBS to produce —also one of the reasons behind it being canceled and then confirmed for one final run.
Out of those strong character development arcs, we have that one played by Kenny Johnson in the role of Dominique Luca, another member of the Los Angeles Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics Team who drives the armored car the Swat team nicknames “The Black Betty”. But why did Luca leave the show? Was it something related to the script? Some behind-the-scenes drama? Or was it something else?
Why Did Luca Leave SWAT?
Kenny Johnson’s last appearance on CBS’s SWAT took place back in November 2019 on an episode titled “Kingdom”. Then, in another episode titled “Sea Legs” there’s some dialogue concerning Luca and why he’s no longer there. In the Swat storyline, Dominique Luca suffered a back and hip lesion while in the line of duty that required surgical care and had to take a leave of absence.
Now, while that explanation is enough for the storyline, it is not enough for the fans of the CBS show who want to get to the bottom of it, as to why Kenny Johnson —who also worked in “The Shield”— isn’t there anymore.
There’s been a bunch of fake rumors running around Twitter, Reddit threads, and Facebook Fan Pages of the show going all over the place, claiming that Kenny Johnson had a beef with the producers, that he took on a singing career, that he went to do episodes for Fox’s “The Masked Singer” and even that he wanted a pay raise and didn’t get it. But all that is just rumors and lies.
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The Reason Why Kenny Johnson Isn’t On SWAT
Setting aside the internet fake gossip, Kenny Johnson took a role in a movie named Howl, and that took him off the stage of Swat during the filming of said movie. If you look at the SWAT credits, he’s still there, and though we haven’t seen him for about thirteen episodes that doesn’t mean he won’t return to the show.
The Sony Lawsuit
But there’s another thing that relates to Kenny Johnson not showing up on SWAT, and that’s the fact that while in the storyline of the show, they say he’s got a back and hip injury, Kenny Johnson indeed had such injuries in real life when got hurt on set while doing a stunt on a helicopter and Sony didn’t provide the actor the safe environment to conduct such dangerous stunt and maneuver, which resulted from him in getting that back and hip injury.
The actor even filed a legal procedure against Sony Pictures because of that, but that never went to trial, they settled after Sony acknowledged that they had provided unsafe working conditions for the actor. The actors have good lawyers provided by their Screen Actor’s Guild and when these things happen, their legal representation takes care of those issues.
Luca Is Back On Swat
Dominique Luca eventually made it back on the screen and was featured in every episode of SWAT after he recovered from his back injury, settled the lawsuit with Sony, and is a regular cast member for the action series that’s now on its final season after a brief balked cancelation on CBS’s part on 5 May 2023 and the eventual incorporation of Shemar Moore into the executive production team that resulted in a final seventh season that will soon make its way to the small screens.
Lastly, if you want to see SWAT, you can stream it from Paramount+, or from Netflix in some regions.
