Kenny Johnson is sadly leaving SWAT (Here’s why Luca is being written off the show)

When CBS announced that SWAT would be ending with season 7, we knew saying goodbye to the characters we’ve come to know and love in just 13 episodes would be hard. What we never imagined was that we’d have to say goodbye to some characters sooner than others or that some characters wouldn’t even be returning in a key role for the final season. 

With only 13 episodes, it just seemed safe to assume CBS and the creative team behind the show would want to celebrate the characters and actors who had been part of the show’s journey from the start not just as a way to celebrate the characters but also the fans who have been following their journeys over the years. 

Sadly, the creative team had other plans in mind which has robbed SWAT fans of the chance to enjoy two long-time, original characters in the final season. Episode 5 brought with it the exit of Alex Russell and now the show is about to bid farewell to another original member of the team with the exit of Kenny Johnson’s Dominique Luca.

Kenny Johnson’s role in SWAT was reduced ahead of season 7’s premiere 

Ahead of SWAT’s return for its final season, TVLine confirmed that both Alex Russell and Kenny Johnson would not be returning to season 7 as series regulars and had been downgraded to recurring roles for the final season. 

At the time,  showrunner Andrew Dettmann assured fans that they had some great episodes for both actors which would give them proper sendoffs with the hope being that nobody felt like they were underserved. 

“Looking at [Season 7] being the final 13 [episodes], we wanted to give everybody their proper curtain call so the episodes that we have for them are really focused on their characters and the evolution of their storylines. I’m really excited about the episodes we have for [Luca and Street]. The idea for the final 13 was that, if this was the end for us, nobody feels like they were underserved. There are some really good episodes for Alex and Kenny, for Street and Luca.”

This gave fans hope that while we wouldn’t see the characters in every episode, we’d at least see them in a recurring role with the assumption being that would entail multiple appearances over the course of the season. 

Instead, we only got to see Alex Russell in one episode and Kenny Johnson has been MIA up until the show’s sixth episode and will only appear in a total of two episodes this season.

Kenny Johnson did not leave SWAT on bad terms, promised a bittersweet sendoff

Although it does not appear that Kenny Johnson made the decision to leave SWAT and that the decision was made by the creative team, Johnson is not leaving the show on bad terms. In fact, he’s had nothing but positive things to say about his time on the show and the opportunity it provided him to work with his daughter. 

After news broke that Johnson would not be returning as a series regular for the final season, he took to Instagram to thank the fans for all of their love and support! 

“For the fans: Time for our last dance !! After all we’ve been through !! It’s always been my complete honor and my pleasure!! I wanna thank everyone for all the love and support!! It’s purely all for you guys, and here we go for our last time together!! See you soon. The fact that I’ve got to work with my daughter on 3 films, and here SWAT, is beyond a dream come true !! Thank you Jelli! We get one more dance soon.” 

Just days before SWAT kicked off its final season, Johnson again took to Instagram to celebrate the show’s final season and promised the fans a “beautiful bittersweet sendoff.” 

“This first picture is the original cast from the beginning with Justin Lin directing us !! So this being the last season, Luca was given a beautiful bittersweet send-off, and it got to include my daughter Jelli aka “Kelly “!! It’s been my honor, my privilege, and my pleasure to give all I could as Luca!!! Thank you for all the incredible support!!!”

SWAT says goodbye to Luca in season 7 episode 7

While the final season of SWAT will have 13 episodes, Kenny Johnson’s time as Luca will come to an end halfway through the season after a smaller role in the final farewell. 

As confirmed by TVLine, Luca’s exit story is scheduled to come via the seventh episode of the season which will air on April 5 following CBS’s March Madness coverage in the final weeks of the month. 

It’s unclear whether we’ll see Luca pop up in the series finale, but there seems to be a very good chance that we won’t see Luca or Street in the final episode given the show has given both characters direct sendoffs early in the season rather than having them stick around through the final episodes of the season. While we love that the show has given both Street and Luca proper sendoff storylines, it’s still quite unfortunate that the two characters weren’t given the chance to maintain a larger role in the final season after being such an integral part of the show since the show’s start.