Daniel Harrelson

Sergeant II **Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson Jr.** is the main protagonist of *S.W.A.T.* and team leader of the 20-David S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) team of the Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.).

He's the title character portrayed by American actor, producer and former ''**Criminal Minds**'' star Shemar Moore.

## Biography

A native of South Los Angeles, Daniel Harrelson was born to Daniel Harrelson, Sr. and Charice Harrelson; he also has a sister, Winnie. When he was a kid, his father left the family after falling in love with another woman and moved to Oakland, California, where he eventually had another daughter, Brianna. Hondo and his dad remained in touch.

As a kid, Hondo and two of his best friends Leroy Henderson (portrayed by Michael Beach) and Darryl, ran with a gang, but after Darryl's death, Hondo went to high school and eventually joined the force.

A few months before Hondo graduated, he and his father witnessed the 1992 Los Angelos riots. While trying to get home safety, Hondo and Sr saw two black rioters pull a white man from his car and start attacking him. Despite Sr. attempts to keep Hondo in the car, Hondo jumped out the car and ran to intervene. This forced Sr. to also leave his car and help his son. They were able to stop the beating and get the man to the hospital where he was saved. Hondo was left in awe that he and Sr. managed to save someone's life. It's heavily implied that this helped influence his eventual path to the police force.

After high school, Hondo enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). He served four years (1994 to 1998) with the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (1/9th Marines) out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and deployed to Somalia. Upon leaving the Marines, Hondo joined the Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.).

Hondo began his L.A.P.D. career as a patrol officer with the 77th Street Area. He served as a patrolman for six years before becoming a member of S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. By 2016, he was serving as a Senior Lead Officer on Sergeant Buck Spivey's (Louis Ferreira) S.W.A.T. Team. He knows everyone in the neighborhood and treats them all with respect, which is why some of the usually police-distrusting South L.A. residents sometimes trust him with information pertinent to his cases. It is around this time that he had gone on his first date with Elle Trask who was an FBI Agent before her promotion to the District of Columbia. They later broke up the relationship after finding the long distance scenario to be too complicated which Hondo mentioned that he didn't end it too well.

In 2017, Hondo was unexpectedly promoted to Team Leader after Buck was fired for accidentally shooting an unarmed black teenager during a shootout. Senior team member Sergeant David Kay (Jay Harrington), who was next in the hierarchy after Buck, was overlooked in a blatant attempt to ease the tensions between the community and the L.A.P.D.

Four months prior to the series, Hondo began a surreptitious romantic relationship with Captain Jessica Cortez (Stephanie Sigman), which, while frowned upon, is not expressly forbidden by LAPD policy. However, after his promotion to Team Leader, which put him directly under her command, the two struggle to keep their relationship secret. Hondo ultimately breaks up with her after they were caught by Commissioner Michael Plank (Peter Facinelli) in order to protect her career. He later starts a relationship with Nia Wells (Nikiva Dionne), a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney and recent divorcée, but the relationship is not serious and does not hold long after he told her that he had threatened to come after a man who he accused of drugging his younger half-sister, Briana, and possibly try to take advantage of her one night at a nightclub which was one of the reasons Nia decided to break off the relationship entirely.

In "Invisible", after failing to secure a good foster family for Darryl Henderson, the teenage son of his incarcerated friend Leroy, Hondo decides to apply to become Darryl's official guardian and foster father.

Hondo later cross paths with Nichelle during a pursuit of armed robbery suspects he was chasing which left an innocent man injured. He would later go on date with Nichelle, and they work to help the community the best way they can and even as far as building a family together. In Season 5 finale, it is revealed that Nichelle is pregnant with Hondo's first child.

## Personality

Beneath the bulky muscles, furrowed brows and stern voice, Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson is a straightforward character. His values are black and white as he is secure in what he believes is right. Hondo is the protector in everything he does. He is extremely intuitive about people and concerned for their feelings. Take Jim Street for example, Hondo took Jim under his wings and constantly showed his protectiveness towards the younger, newer recruit. Hondo has no issues recognizing when something is not right in a case, a skill that makes him a prized employee of the L.A.P.D.. Sometimes he will go against authority to do what is right for him, the citizens of Los Angeles and members of his team.

Hondo has a well-developed value system that he strictly adheres to; one that fits side by side with a lot of the values that S.W.A.T holds. He is well-respected for his perseverance in doing the right thing and is almost always expected to do so. Hondo is a trusted member of S.W.A.T. He can always be counted on to make the right choice -with the interest of those involved kept in mind.

Hondo is an altruist who takes his responsibility to help and to do the right thing seriously. When it comes to friends and family, Hondo is both dangerously protective and fiercely loyal. However, he tends towards a helper syndrome and can't accept it when he is not able to change something that seems unjust to him. This overprotectiveness and the tendency to meddle in other people's business with the aim to help them, in his opinion, gets him into trouble with people who don't want his help. Also, he tends to seek dangerous situations at work. Sometimes it isn't clear if he only wants to protect his team members or if he has a rescue complex.

## Relationships

### Daniel Harrelson, Sr.

Hondo and his father, Daniel Harrelson Sr., have a mixed relationship. Hondo can't forgive that his father left the family for another woman when Hondo and his sister, Winnie, were young. He doesn't have a very close contact with him until Mr. Harrelson is pressured by his children to move with them to L.A., due to his poor health. At this point, Hondo takes strong initiative and almost forces his reluctant father to the move. The roles between them reverse, and Hondo treats his proud father very protectively, but also patronizingly, which leads to the two of them fight a lot. When it becomes clear that Mr. Harrelson suffers from lung cancer, Hondo pushes him to go to the doctor and, eventually, to get treatment. Their relationship is ambivalent and keeps changing from fondness to anger. It is clear that his father leaving the family when his children were still little is a sore spot for Hondo. When Hondo and Bree try to convince Mr. Harrelson to move to L.A., this gets visible by Hondo getting tears in his eyes when yelling at his father, which does not happens often throughout the series. However, their relationship stabilizes and improves with time.

### Jessica Cortez

Captain Jessica Cortez and Hondo have an intimate relationship and are secret lovers for 4 months at the beginning of the series. When Hondo gets named 20-David team leader, their secret relationship becomes officially problematic, since Jessica becomes his direct superior. After a while, they end their romantic involvement to save her career. However, it is visible that they still have feelings for each other, despite the fact that they hide it. All the time, before and after their breakup, they work very well together on a professional level. Often, they have the same, or similar, opinions about missions and decisions. They respect and support each other with their careers.

### Nichelle Carmichael

Nichelle and Hondo meet in season 3. Soon, they feel attracted to each other and start a romantic relationship. Nichelle runs a youth center in South L. A. and is committed to supporting the children and teenagers who come there, wanting to motivate them towards better lives. Hondo and Nichelle break up eventually, due to Hondo's emotional and temporal unavailability due to his work. However, they get closer again after some time apart and become friends. Nichelle encourages Hondo to open up more and talk about his emotions, preventing that they wear him down. In season 5 they make up with each other and build a strong relationship. They also try to adopt a kid, and later to build their own family by trying to make a baby. In season 6, Hondo's girlfriend Nichelle is pregnant and have a daughter named Vivienne. At the end of season 6, he and Nichelle are now engaged after baptized to Vivian.

### David "Deacon" Kay

Hondo has a different relationship with Deacon than with the rest of his team. Deacon is his second in command and was supposed to be team leader after Buck instead of Hondo. Being openly overlooked he gnaws at Deacon for some time, even though he tries not to let on about it. In season 1, ep. 21 ("Hunted"), Hondo and Deacon have to escape from a group of shooters through a wild area and during that they get into a fight about Deacon's resentment, eventually managing to put it aside. Hondo respects Deacon and sometimes asks for his opinion about leadership decisions, which shows that Hondo sees Deacon as equally able to lead a team.

### 20-David S.W.A.T. Team

Hondo and the members of the S.W.A.T (Special Weapons and Tactics) team have a good relationship with each other. He keeps a special eye on the team youngsters, particularly Street and Chris. In the first two seasons, Hondo and Street get into disagreements about Street's impulsive and reckless attitude and about Street's mother, which culminates in Hondo banning Street from the S.W.A.T. team. However, after some time, Street apologizes for his behavior and Hondo helps to get him into the S.W.A.T. academy, thus offering Street a second chance. When it comes to Chris, Hondo relies on her to do a good job. He respects and honors her skills and treats her no different than the other team members, unlike other S.W.A.T. members who make jokes about her being the only woman. Hondo's relationship with Luca and Tan is not particularly highlighted, but it is clear that they also have a very good contact. Hondo is an understanding and supportive team leader but is also well able to tell them off strongly. It is shown that the team members act slightly different with Hondo as their boss around than when they are alone, but in general they have a very amicable and honest policy in their entire team.

## Trivia

* This series marks Shemar Moore's fourth consecutive leading role on a network television series following *The Young and the Restless*, *Birds of Prey* and *Criminal Minds*.

* Shemar Moore also serves as executive-producer on the series.
* In Cuchillo, it is implied that Hondo has a fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)

* In Octane, Hondo reveals that he loves math and always preferred it over English.
* As a SWAT officer, Hondo drives a 2015 Dodge Charger Pursuit and carries a Kimber Custom TLE II in .45 ACP as his duty weapon.
* As of S2 E23, he has 15 years of police experience (3 Silver Service Stripes).