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Anthony Michael Hall Talks S.W.A.T. Exiles, Wednesday, Reacher & More

Anthony Michael Hall discussed his role on STARZ's S.W.A.T. Exiles, reflecting on his time on Reacher, Bosch: Legacy, and Wednesday.

Anthony Michael Hall is one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood today, which is an incredible feat in and of itself, considering how he hit the ground running, emerging in his youth in Hollywood as a member of the Brat Pack, earning the distinction of being the youngest to ever join the cast of Saturday Night Live at 17. While most of his age would consider slowing down or shifting their priorities elsewhere, Hall is still appearing in some of TV's biggest shows, including The Black List, The Goldbergs, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bosch: Legacy, Reacher, and Wednesday, and films like Trigger Warning (2024), Halloween Kills (2021), and the upcoming Halloween Store. Hall spoke to Bleeding Cool about his upcoming role in the STARZ spinoff action series S.W.A.T. Exiles, and working with star Shemar Moore, who's reprising his role as Sgt. Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson Jr from the original CBS 2017 series, and landing the types of opportunities most actors would dream of.

Anthony Michael Hall on How He Landed Roles on S.W.A.T. Exiles, Wednesday, Bosch: Legacy, Reacher

Bleeding Cool: How did you get involved with S.W.A.T. Exiles, and what can you tell me about the character you play?

Hall: Yeah, that's a good one. It came to me through my team at Untitled, a great management team, and they're almost like an agency. They're a great company, and they're bicoastal in Los Angeles and New York. Jason Weinberg runs the company, and I've known Jason since the 80s. He was Molly Ringwald's publicist back in the day, and it was actually at her suggestion that he become a manager. He's become a behemoth of a manager; a great guy, so I'm with his company. The role came through them for 'S.W.A.T. Exiles.' Look, I had not watched the [original] show. Funny enough, Tom, I watched it in the 70s as a little kid. The original 'S.W.A.T.' was on in the '70s when I was a little boy, like 50-something years ago, and I loved it, but I had not watched the Shemar [Moore] version on CBS, but I know that it ran for like eight years.

What happened was it obviously left CBS after a long and very successful run and was picked up by Sony. When we shot it, the episode that I did was at the end of a season that was sponsored by and funded through Sony, but they didn't have a home yet for it, so now it's been picked up by STARZ. To answer your question about the role, do you know who I want to compare the role to? It's almost like Rick Caruso, the guy in L.A., the developer who ran for mayor. It's a similar type of role to that. It's the guy who employs and enlists the S.W.A.T. exile security team, and I think the idea of the show is that Shamar's character has gone on his own and he's working with this other security agency with this young, sort of Gen Z, millennial security force team of actors.

There's a bunch of really talented, cool young actors that are in the show with him. That's the kind of nature of the spinoff, and the episode I did was a lot of fun. I got to work with some cool people, like Jerry O'Connell, who plays the mayor. He was fun. He came up to me on the set, and we chatted. He's a very nice guy. Shemar is a really nice person, but the cool part of it, too, Tom, is we shot at that Oscar Museum [Academy Museum of Motion Pictures] in LA, the new one that they have. It's been open for a couple of years. It's really cool. It's a beautiful facility.

I didn't realize until you get there that there's like a campus, so when you enter this Oscar museum, it connects to the Tar Pits, the La Brea Tar Pit Museum, not just like an Oscar museum that they turn the building, like there's a huge outdoor area. We shot at this rooftop, which is absolutely beautiful, that overlooks West Hollywood, and the one episode and sensibly join the cast where I don't know what's going to happen if they're going to send more episodes my way or not, but we'll see what happens. It was a fun role, and my character enlists the support of the S.W.A.T. exile team, and then it takes off from there. It's a fun experience.

You have a knack for being a part of so many different franchises. I was wondering how you come across them? Is it something that you stumble upon by happenstance? Did your agent find them, or are you a fan of the franchises? I mean, off the top of my head, aside from SWAT, you're also on 'Wednesday,' 'Reacher,' and 'Bosch: Legacy.' Were you a fan of those before getting cast?

No, it's a great question. I wish I could say that I planned it, or that it was thought out. Honestly, Tom, I think these projects kind of choose you in a way, as opposed to the opposite, because I had to really go at it and scrap for everything I've gotten. It's been a long time since movies were just given to me from those like John Hughes, from that perspective, in the early part of my career. I've had a 51-year career, pretty crazy because I started so young, but I was really blessed and fortunate, like you bring up 'Wednesday.' That's something that came to me; I got the call from Tim Burton, he asked me to join the cast, and that was a really lovely surprise.

I was in Europe visiting my mother-in-law with my wife and my son. I have a three-year-old son, and at the time he was only a year old, so we wound up going right from Slovakia and our European family vacation right to Dublin for six weeks, and I shot 'Wednesday.' On 'Bosch: Legacy,' I had to get…again, that was something that came up. One of the executive producers, Tom Bernardo, goes to my church. When I got the offer, that's the information I got. He had seen me at church and wanted to make me an offer to play this FBI guy (Agent William Baron), which was a lot of fun.

Then comes 'Reacher.' I had this nice work introductory meeting with Nick Santora, the show's creator, and he told me that he and the writing staff had this role (of Zachary Beck) in mind this whole season. Again, the same thing applies, where it's like you usually must do a reading, and you do a screen test, and that's cool, understandable, and part of the business. These things…they find me in a way, and at the same time, it's not like I'm choosing them. Some actors obviously have that luxury, but not most of us.

@swathqtv

More danger. More action. More Moore. #SWATExiles premieres on @STARZ September 25.

♬ original sound – S.W.A.T. HQ

S.W.A.T. Exiles premieres on September 25th on Starz. Wednesday is available on Netflix. Bosch: Legacy and Reacher are available on Prime Video.

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