CBS’ ‘S.W.A.T.’ Successfully Returns To Production

After a five-month break, CBS’ drama S.W.A.T. today started production on its upcoming fourth season.

Like with everything else right now amid spiking COVID-19 infections, the situation remained fluid until the last minute but all preliminary testing was completed and shooting began this morning as scheduled. I hear the show has wrapped for the day after a full day of filming in Santa Clarita.

S.W.A.T., produced by Sony Pictures TV and CBS TV Studios, moved up from midseason to CBS’ fall schedule two weeks ago to replace Survivor, whose fall installment was sidelined by the pandemic. It is the first broadcast primetime scripted series to resume production, emerging from the COVID-related shutdown.

This is the second Sony U.S. series to resume shooting, joining daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Currently, the studio’s ABC medical drama The Good Doctor is slated to be next with a start date next week but pre-production in Vancouver has been put on hold over a COVID testing issue with BC Council, which the studio is working on resolving.

S.W.A.T‘s writers and executive producer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas marked the first day of production on Twitter.

Back in June, Thomas, fellow S.W.A.T. EP Shawn Ryan and the writing team vowed “to do better” examining race and policing on the show following George Floyd’s death, starting with Season 4, which started filming today.