Patrick Swayze's Final Role Was In A Cop Drama Series With Vikings Star Travis Fimmel

Before passing away due to pancreatic cancer in 2009, Patrick Swayze — the screen legend known for blockbuster films like "Dirty Dancing" and TV shows like "North and South" – left television audiences with one last gritty hurrah that paired him with future "Vikings" star Travis Fimmel.

A&E's Chicago-set crime drama "The Beast" — which premiered in early 2009 — followed Charles Barker (Swayze), an unorthodox undercover FBI agent who takes rookie Ellis Dove (Fimmel) under his wing. But little does Barker know, an internal affairs team is pressuring Dove to secretly investigate his mentor and determine whether Barker has turned into a dirty cop.

Around the time the TV crime drama was released, Swayze had already made his cancer battle public and did little to no press for "The Beast." But during a Q&A event in 2009, his collaborators spoke about his work ethic. As The Los Angeles Times reported, co-creator Vincent Angell said that Swayze's stamina blew everyone away on set: "Usually most of us would get tired before he would." Co-creator William Rotko revealed that the team never considered recasting the lead role, even after the diagnosis came to light, explaining, "From the moment Patrick found out he had cancer... he said, 'I'm going to do this show.' And I think you probably... see the type of cowboy personality that he has."

Showrunner John Romano also recalled that Swayze actively pushed back against any attempt to ease his workload, asking writers, "Are you writing me down? I'm not climbing enough walls in this episode. Do you think I can't do it?" Fimmel marveled at his screen partner's resilience: "He's an amazing guy. You can't help but to respect him. And I can't say enough good stuff about the guy. He's an inspiration. He makes a little thing seem so not important."

Reviews for the police procedural were mostly mixed, with a decent 61% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. But one thing positive and negative reviews commonly agreed on was that Swayze was the highlight. In its review, Hollywood Chicago said that Swayze nailed the damaged character, even going so far as to call the portrayal "arguably the best performance of his entire career." The Star-Ledger also called it a career best for the "Ghost" star. Common Sense Media wrote that while the series relied on an unoriginal procedural setup, Swayze brought undeniable "flair" to the role of the rogue cop.

The show's average of 1.3 million viewers over its 13-episode run, combined with A&E weighing Swayze's health struggles, led to the network canceling the show in June 2009, just three months before Swayze died at age 57.