‘S.W.A.T.’: Hondo & 20 Squad Have New Teammate in Season 8 Premiere (PHOTOS)

There’s a new member of 20-Squad on S.W.A.T. when Season 8 begins this fall, and CBS has released the first images of her working alongside her new teammates and details on what’s going to be keeping them busy in the October 18 premiere. (And to think: S.W.A.T. has survived two cancellations and shows no sign of slowing down.)

In “Vanished,” SWAT tackles a mission with personal ties for Hondo (Shemar Moore) when they race to find a group of missing students and their bus driver, Hondo’s former high school football coach. Also, Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit) has reservations regarding Hondo’s new 20-Squad team addition, Devin Gamble (Annie Ilonzeh), a cop with a family background deeply entrenched in crime. Check out photos from the episode below.

It was in the Season 7 finale that Hondo was given carte blanche by Hicks to fill the sixth spot on his team. As executive producer Andrew Dettmann told us at the time, “I think Hondo has somebody in mind. I think because he got the carte blanche and because he’s kind of thinking of somebody—I don’t know exactly who yet—it allows us to bring in somebody that might not be an obvious choice, that might be, even from Hicks’ perspective, a little bit controversial, but Hicks isn’t going to go back on his word. So whoever Hondo brings in, we all know Hondo wouldn’t do that for the wrong reasons. So we’re going to trust Hondo. Whoever he brings in as a sixth member of 20 squad’s going to be somebody that Hondo is invested in and wants to see succeed.”

Devin certainly seems to fit that description. “She’s a badass and works her ass off. She can shoot. She’s super dope. She’s athletic and that’s what I love. You see a woman and she’s in her femininity and she values that, but she’s an athlete and she’s in her masculinity too. She can outrun all of them,” Ilonzeh told TV Insider about her character as part of our extensive Fall Preview of Season 8.

“Hondo saw that sparkle, that ‘it’ factor, when she was a rookie in the LAPD a little over 10 years ago and said, ‘I want her in 20 squad,’ she continued. “[Back then] he took Gamble under his wing. When her dad’s shady past boiled over, Hondo decided, ‘let me protect you’ and got Gamble to Oakland so that she didn’t catch the backlash.”

Scroll down to see photos from the Season 8 premiere, then let us know what you’re hoping to see from the newest member of the team in the comments section.

S.W.A.T., Season 8 Premiere, Friday, October 18, 8/7c, CBS