Current tensions up ante for makers of police drama

LOS ANGELES — Shawn Ryan, a co-executive producer of the updated version of the CBS drama “S.W.A.T.,” knows that the series comes at a time of tension between police and civilians in the United States.

Given that timing, he said, the police show must be handled “honestly and in a grounded way.”

Ryan was heralded for the way he pulled no punches in dealing with the police in his FX series “The Shield.” The show featured plenty of good police officers trying to do their duties in the best way possible. It also featured some of the most corrupt cops to ever walk a TV beat.

“I think you can be pro-police and yet also be pro-truth, but that there are certain instances and times and events that shouldn’t happen,” Ryan said. “What fascinated me about this show was to look at the police and the communities that they’re policing and figure out if there is a way to sort of bring these communities closer together.”

Ryan had concerns early in the development of “S.W.A.T.” that the network might want a less-realistic look at the police force. To that end, there will be some familiar scenes for anyone who has watched a cop drama. But those sequences will be presented in a way that focuses on the larger truths.

The result is a production inspired by the TV series and the feature film starring Shemar Moore (“Criminal Minds”) as a locally born and raised S.W.A.T. sergeant newly charged with running a specialized tactical unit that is the last stop in law enforcement in Los Angeles. He is torn between loyalty to where he was raised and his allegiance to his brothers in blue.

Executive producer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas emphasized that the mission in telling the stories of this team hasn’t wavered.

“What we’re looking to do is simply make sure that we are presenting everything in its truer sense, grounded in reality but through the spectrum of visceral action, with entertaining elements.

Moore comes to the show from 11 seasons as Derek Morgan on the CBS series “Criminal Minds.” Before that, he played Malcolm Winters for 11 years on the daytime serial “The Young and the Restless.”

He would have welcomed a break, but Moore was eager to be a part of “S.W.A.T.”

“We’re taking on the Trump years,” he said. “And I’m not going to get political. I don’t care who you voted for. It’s just what’s happening today.... It’s not just black versus blue or black versus white. It’s every ethnicity. It’s fear. It’s racism. It’s terrorism.”

Moore thought the time was right for his “blind leap.”

“I was hungry to grow. I didn’t know ‘S.W.A.T.’ was coming; I had no idea. I was an unemployed actor trying to figure it out.”

With the role, he goes from ensemble cast member to series star.

The team behind him includes David “Deacon” Kay (Jay Harrington), a S.W.A.T. officer passed over for the lead job; Jim Street (Alex Russell), a promising new team member; Christina “Chris” Alonso (Lina Esco), the team’s canine trainer; and Dominique Luca (Kenny Johnson), an expert driver.