Luca’s Injury in the Field Sent ‘S.W.A.T.’ Fans Into a Tailspin
Published April 16 2022, 11:24 a.m. ET
If you were watching CBS last Sunday night, April 10, you might be one of the fans wondering if Luca is leaving S.W.A.T.
In “The Fugitive,” that night’s episode of the police procedural, Dominique Luca gets hit by a bullet, and fans panicked, thinking this was the Kenny Johnson character.
“Not Luca!” one viewer tweeted. “Don't do this…”
Another wrote, “Luca got shot and I stopped breathing.”
“I was very, very unhappy about that too!” a third viewer wrote on Twitter. “It’s late in the season, and my first thought was, ‘Nooo, are they killing @TheKennyJohnson a.k.a. Luca off?’”
Well, we have good news for all you S.W.A.T. fans out there: The bullet didn’t penetrate Luca’s bulletproof vest, and it doesn’t seem like the character is going anywhere. Here’s what we know…
Luca has been gone before.
Any separation anxiety fans feel toward Luca is perfectly understandable, since the character was absent for much of the CBS procedural’s fourth season. As Newsweek reports, actor Kenny Johnson was in a legal dispute with production company Sony Pictures Television at the time over injuries he allegedly suffered during a helicopter scene on the show. Like his character, Kenny had hip surgery and did “hard work in physical therapy” to recover from that setback, as the S.W.A.T. writers wrote on Twitter.
Despite his injury, Luca is already back in action in this week’s episode.
Looks like Luca makes a quick rebound! CBS’ promotional photos show that Luca is back in the field in the episode airing tomorrow, Sunday, April 17. Here’s how CBS describes the episode: “When a series of deadly explosions hits oil derricks across Los Angeles, SWAT teams up to hunt down an activist-turned-terrorist. Also, Deacon (Jay Harrington) and his wife, Annie (Bre Blair), work to free a reformed drug dealer who they believe was sent away for a murder he didn’t commit.”
He even has an upcoming storyline.
We also know Luca will be around for next week’s episode, April 24’s “Family,” because CBS’ synopsis reveals he’s the star of a subplot in that installment.
“When Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit) witnesses the assassination of his longtime friend, a prominent judge, the team races to find the shooter and determine why he was targeted,” the synopsis reads. “Also, Luca struggles with how to help his brother, Terry (Ryan Hurst), after he’s arrested.”
That episode marks another onscreen reunion for Kenny Johnson and Ryan Hurst, two actors who have also shared the screen in Sons of Anarchy and Bates Motel. “Over the years, I've worked with a lot of amazing people. One of my all-time faves and one of my best friends on this planet is [Ryan],” Kenny tweeted last year.
Kenny Johnson is looking forward to Season 6.
Kenny was one of the cast members celebrating last week after CBS renewed S.W.A.T. for a sixth season. “Here we come for a Season 6!” the actor tweeted on April 8.
He also posted a Twitter video of costar Shamar Moore announcing the news, with Kenny and other S.W.A.T. cast and crew members smiling in the background. “From all of us here at S.W.A.T., we wanna thank the fans all around the world for loving us the way you do!” Shemar said in the clip.
