Annie Ilonzeh Talks S.W.A.T. Season 8, Says Finale Will ‘Leave You Wanting More’ [Interview]

Though S.W.A.T. is set to conclude at the end of Season 8, having been canceled by CBS, cast member Annie Ilonzeh isn’t giving up hope yet.

The series has, after all, had cancellations reversed before, so it’s not hard to imagine that could happen again.

I recently spoke with Annie Ilonzeh, who plays newcomer Devin Gamble, about the chances of S.W.A.T. returning again, whether or not the Season 8 finale will feel like a clear conclusion to the show, and what it was like joining the cast of such a well-established show.

Ilonzeh said the environment was “extremely welcoming” when she joined the cast at the beginning of S.W.A.T. Season 8. 

“I thank them so much, even still, because I was super intimidated. This is an oiled machine that’s working. It works well,” Ilonzeh said. “And the S.W.A.T. franchise is something that everyone knows. So to come in, I wanted to impress and also fit in and not ruffle any feathers.”

“My fears were just completely unjust, and if anything, met with love and affection, and hugs, and confirmation that I was supposed to be there,” she added. Ilonzeh said she was encouraged to embrace the character and allow her to “shake things up.”

“Sometimes, as a new character, as a new actor coming into an established show, it’s ‘Follow us, and see what our tone is, and match it.'” Ilonzeh’s experience on S.W.A.T. was the opposite. And they followed me too.

“It started from number one. I remember having a conversation with Shemar [Moore],” she said. “He was like, Whatever you do, Annie, I’ve got your back.’ And you can’t ask for anything better than that.”

“Just personally, I’ve been on other stuff that has been established — really great shows — and it has not been the case where cast or crew is like, ‘I got you,’ or ‘This is a warm environment. Feel free to fall; we’ll catch you.’ And these guys, legit, we do that for each other.”

“I just can’t say enough about these guys, meaning the whole cast and crew. They’re just lovely,” Ilonzeh added.

With working on the show being such a positive experience so far, Ilonzeh is hopeful that the show won’t really be finished at the end of Season 8. She confirmed there’s a reason for just a little hope, too. 

“It does not feel like a flatline to me and to a lot of us, to be honest,” she said. “We are not flatlined; we are having conversations. We’re all hoping that this is another ‘just kidding.'”

“The show speaks for itself with the built-in audience. Also, how great that we get to employ almost 300 Angelenos. You know, we don’t have a lot of production in Los Angeles. Everyone is screaming for production to stay and come back to LA and Hollywood, Ilonzeh said. “There’s a lot of pluses to continue to stay and do a Season 9 [and] to #SaveSWAT.”

“On our 20-Squad text thread, we are hearing little rumblings, and we’re crossing every single finger, toe, whatever that we can. So it is nice to know that there is a little bit of hope still. I guess it also just shows, in this business, we are a little delusional, and you kind of have to be to do what we do. And I’ll stay with the delusion rather than the idea that something this great is fully over.”

Ilonzeh discussed her character’s struggles this season as well. Devin Gamble arrived with a layered backstory that Ilonzeh said was “fun to explore,” especially in terms of “the juxtaposition” between her own family and the family she has with 20-Squad. 

“[Her] 20-Squad family represents something, her actual family represents a whole other thing,” she said, adding that there is a push/pull between making a decision of who she’s actually gonna have the loyalty to, which I think a lot of people can relate to — making the right decision versus the decision that feels good.”

Ilonzeh called it “an honor” to play a S.W.A.T. officer, especially with it being a male-dominated industry. 

“[Gamble] represents a woman, a woman of color, and to be able to do it in such a practical and authentic fashion — it’s such an honor,” she said. The physicality of the role is a big piece of that. 

“To be able to do all the physical things that everyone sees, and the action, for me, I’m living the dream. I get to play this version of a superhero, in a way,” Ilonzeh said.

“It’s just a complete honor. And I do not take it lightly — I see the importance of it on all fronts. We train, certainly, and we take it very serious. We have our S.W.A.T. technical consultant Odie Gallop, who was former S.W.A.T. He’s on set and he’s watching us like a hawk, making sure form, technique, the way we breach and enter rooms, how we take down doors, that everything looks and feels exactly right.”

“As much as we can do stunt-wise, we will do. I sometimes push it,” Ilonzeh laughed.

Often, though, stunts are left to Ilonzeh’s stunt double, Bethany Levy.

“I can’t even believe we got her, which is what our stunt team has said [too],” Ilonzeh said, adding that Levy has been a stunt double for such stars as Halle Berry and Thandie Newton, among others.  

“She’s just a phenomenal woman,” she added. “Our stunt team is so impressive, and so thorough and detailed.”

Ilonzeh also confirmed that, even though the Season 8 finale is currently set to be the series finale, it will leave the door open for more stories. “It certainly leaves you wanting more. It leaves you wanting Season 9, absolutely. We do not close very many doors, any doors really.”

As for what’s to come in the remainder of the season, Ilonzeh said she was nervous reading the scripts for the season’s final episodes, and that those episodes become very “edge-of-your-seat.” 

“I was on pins and needles,” she said. “It made me feel like, ‘Oh gosh, someone’s gonna go.”

“It also feels like someone’s in so much danger that they might not make it,” she hinted. “You really start to question, ‘Is the squad safe, and is the team as a whole gonna make it?'”

---

S.W.A.T. airs Fridays at 10/9c on CBS.

Follow us on X and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!