The seventh and final season of SWAT is underway, and fans are getting ready to say goodbye to the characters they have come to know and love over the past six and a half years. With the end of the CBS procedural series fast approaching, let's take a look at some predictions for what will happen to the team in the final episodes.

3 bombshell SWAT Season 7 predictions

Below are three huge predictions for SWAT Season 7.

A member of the team is killed

The showrunners could go in a number of different directions with this one. One avenue would be to make it a new member of the team, such as Powell (Anna Enger Rich). While this would be somewhat similar to the storyline around Erica's death, it would likely hit the whole team harder because Powell has grown to be one of them.

It would also be easier for the fans to stomach a newer character having a tragic ending as opposed to one of the core characters who has been around since the beginning of the show.

However, another route would be to kill off one of the main characters. it's unlikely that Hondo would get killed, although that would by far be the most brutal death. It seems that if a main character is going to be killed off, the most likely candidate would be Jim Street.

Killing off a main character would be one way for the show to introduce a new angle and show a different side of the characters. The writing on SWAT has been somewhat stale for the better part of a season by now.

Drastically shaking things up and changing the dynamic of the team and the show by killing an integral character would certainly be a way to bring new life to the writing. If the showrunners decided to do this, Street is the most likely character to be killed off.

The only other character who could plausibly be killed would be Luca because he isn't one of the core two characters and he doesn't have a family. It would be brutal to kill off Deacon because he has a family and because the show is built around him and Hondo.

It would be equally brutal to kill Hondo as he is just starting a family with Nichelle, and it would be impractical due to his role as the lead character. Killing off Hondo would also destroy any chance the show had of returning, and a spin-off would be extremely unlikely as well.

My prediction is that at least one team member will be killed, and the most likely character is Powell. By taking this approach, the showwriters would essentially hedge their bets. They would gain the shock of killing off a character and have an opportunity to showcase the impact of a death on the rest of the team. However, they would avoid killing a character that fans have really grown to love.

For a bold prediction, I'll say Luca is the one to get killed off. Typically, writers like to come from an angle that people aren't expecting. If a main character is to be killed, Street is the likely candidate. That could incentivize the writers to go in a different direction and throw everybody for a turn by killing Luca.

Street returns to Long Beach

If Street isn't killed off, there's a good chance that the show will end with him returning to Long Beach, perhaps to take command of the SWAT unit within LBPD. This would be somewhat of a nice ending for Street, giving him the chance to step up into the leadership role he has dreamed of and giving him a chance to demonstrate his improved maturity and leadership skills.

If Street does not return to Long Beach, another happy ending for him would be to retire from law enforcement and work with Chris. This would give viewers a chance to see both of them on screen together one more time, and would surely be a happy ending for the two who had been through so much together and individually throughout the first five seasons of the show.

Leroy and Darryl return

This show shouldn't end without a final appearance from both Leroy and Darryl. Leroy was Hondo's best friend growing up in South Los Angeles who did time for a murder charge and was able to start a new life after his release while also maintaining his street ties and respect. Leroy often served as a bridge between Hondo and the rest of the community that he grew up in.

Darryl is Leroy's son who Honda looked out for when he started getting into trouble while Leroy was in prison. We haven't seen much of the two of them in recent episodes, but as the show wraps up that needs to change.

Their return could center around Leroy witnessing something outside of his business, or Darryl getting in trouble while trying to help a friend and Leroy asking Hondo and SWAT to get involved to save Darryl and his friend while bringing down the group responsible.

These two approaches would stay true to the arc of each character while staying within the bounds of realism. The first approach could dive deeper into police-community relations or could involve Leroy stumbling upon some sort of terrorist plot, and the second could involve more action or perhaps undercover work from one of the team members, along with a rescue operation to save Darryl and his friend.

This would be a memorable way to close out the series, ending with some action while also bringing things full circle with Hondo and Leroy reconnecting and working together to save Leroy's son.