‘All American’ Boss Shares Who Will Make a Cameo in Season 7

‘All American’ Boss Shares Who Will Make a Cameo in Season 7

[This article contains mild spoilers from season seven of All American.]

All American teased its upcoming seventh season with a special airing of its premiere episode, “Reborn,” on Wednesday, Jan. 29, five days ahead of its regular Monday night timeslot.

The 13-episode season marks the first without Daniel Ezra, who’s portrayed Spencer James on The CW sports drama since its debut in 2018, as the series lead. It also introduces three new characters — KJ Jeremy (Nathaniel McIntyre), Cassius Jeremy (Osy Ikhile) and Khalil Edwards (Antonio J. Bell) — whose experiences at South Crenshaw and Beverly Hills High will now be at the center of the long-running series. As will those of three of the show’s original characters, Jordan Baker (Michael Evans Behling), Layla Keating (Greta Onieogou) and Coop (Bre-Z).

“This is what we do on this show,” showrunner and executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll tells The Hollywood Reporter of ushering in a new cast in an abbreviated season. “We’re having a blast telling these stories.”

In her chat with THR below, Carroll reveals the show’s new character storylines and which original cast members will make guest appearances in season seven. She also shares her hopes for the future of the franchise, which reached its 100-episode milestone in season six, following the cancellation of All American: Homecoming.

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The last time we talked, you were saying goodbye to Taye Diggs. Now there’s no Daniel Ezra. What was it like coming back on set this time without your longstanding lead?

Because we’d planned this, by the time we came back, we were so excited about the new iteration of the show and seeing my babies all grown up and in adult roles. Quite frankly, Daniel was in my office every other day before he left to do Running Man. I was like, “Dude, you know your pass doesn’t actually work anymore!” (Laughs.) So, it’s been a lovely transition. It’s sort of like life imitating art having the OG cast transitioned from young adults into adult-adults and watching them do that also in real life; how amazing they’ve been in terms of mentorship and everything with the new cast coming in. I keep slipping up and calling the season seven premiere a pilot. Finally, Michael Behling was like, “It does kinda have pilot energy.” It has that exciting, full of possibilities, new energy to it that even the OG cast is so excited about.

In this season premiere, we see Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) struggling a bit with being an authority figure as he steps into the assistant coach position at South Crenshaw.

Jordan’s always been a little bit of a big kid. His father’s passing, finding his feet as a Baker man and honoring Billy’s legacy, but also learning how to be his own man, is the journey Jordan’s been on for a season and a half. So this new step where he took this job, not because he was trying to please his dad or be like his dad, but because it was something he felt really passionate about, is this full-circle moment of him embracing Crenshaw as his home in a way that Billy struggled to do initially. 

Also, part of his superpower is that he’s able to relate to [the players] because he was them not so long ago. But not everyone necessarily sees that as a superpower. Also with every superpower, there needs to be boundaries and that’s what Jordan is figuring out in the first part of this season, finding that balance while also being a newlywed. He and Layla have been married a little over a year and they’re living their best life, they’ve got that whole house to themselves, they’re christening every room left and right, embracing the fun part of adulthood and the responsibility part of adulthood that we’re all still struggling with.

Let’s jump into the new cast members, starting with Nathaniel McIntyre.

Nate is just an incredible talent. People will recognize him from The Equalizer. He was also Young Simba in The Lion King [on Broadway]. He’s got the new Michael Jackson movie coming out, and when his tape came across my desk, I was like, “Wait, wait, for real, he’s available?” His character, KJ, is sort of our new fish out of water entryway into this new chapter of the All American story back at Beverly. Football is still at the heart of the show. When we first meet him, he’s got big D1 dreams. His dad is a coach and he’s a phenomenal quarterback that seemingly has the perfect life, and it all gets ripped out from under him in that first episode and sets him on this new chapter of his journey with him and his dad. He’s a young kid who desperately wants his family reunited. His family is part of his superpower. They’re part of what fuels him. And over the course of the season, he learns that maybe everything isn’t exactly what it seems. So how’s he going to rise to the occasion? How’s he still going to show up for his dreams? How’s he going to show up for these new friends that are slowly but surely becoming family, while also dealing with everything that’s going on with his life and with his father, who’s very much been like his best friend his whole life and he’s seeing a different side of him now that they’re living in L.A.?

And his dad is played by Osy Ikhile, right?

Yes, who plays Cassius Jeremy, the new Beverly coach. He just brings great energy — I’m not at all biased because Osy’s Nigerian, like me. They bring such a fun dynamic to Beverly and to Beverly football. Quite frankly, he might be the poster child for a competitor. He comes into this job with people treating it almost like a pat on the back. It’s like when the athletic director says, “just have fun.” That’s not a compliment. That means they’re not planning for y’all to do good. And coming from what he comes from and that championship pedigree that he feels in him, he takes real offense to that. He’s here with a chip on his shoulder about the Baker legacy, Jordan Baker and South Crenshaw High and the fact that people don’t expect much from Beverly so he has something to prove, along with the Beverly team. For him and KJ, it’s gonna be about bringing Beverly to life and making this new dynamic of Beverly work.

And then we have Antonio J. Bell.

Antonio Bell, who we introduced last season as Khalil, is sort of our bad boy at South Crenshaw. It’s funny, at one point in one episode, Coop sort of looks at him and realizes, you’re the potential of Shawn [Scott]. Shawn’s life got cut short [in season one] because of the life he was living, and by the time he wanted to prioritize other things and make other decisions, it was too late. So for her, this is the chance to get Shawn right. This is our chance to make sure Khalil’s future doesn’t end up like Shawn’s.

He forms a very close bond with Jordan because Jordan is the first person who isn’t related to him who’s come in and seen potential. He hasn’t seen the screw-up that everyone else has seen. Hasn’t seen the kid that’s barely attending school. Jordan is like, all of those are masks for other things, there is something great in this kid. And sort of in keeping with his father’s legacy in a really beautiful way, Jordan reaches out to Khalil and is determined to help him forge his path through football. So that begins a really beautiful journey with them that complicates Khalil’s life and the code he lives by and the code his father lives by, who’s a crip. And that gets very complicated as Khalil fights for a future that he didn’t think he was worthy of until Jordan pushed him to consider it.

Amina [Alexis Chikaeze] plays hugely into that as well because she’s all of 16 years old. She’s sort of becoming a woman herself and figuring everything out and the truth is, outside of her romantic feelings for him, they legitimately are good friends. But, because I love my love triangles, she actually meets KJ very early on by accident. And even though she’s sort of very focused on Khalil and trying to make something happen with him, there’s a chemistry there that she can’t deny, that KJ can’t deny. And some of her 16-year-old choices, because we don’t always make the best choices at 16, even though we think we are, are going to land her in situations where she suddenly finds herself like, oh, there might be something here and I missed this and now I’ve complicated everything. So we’ve got a fun love triangle going on with Amina, KJ and Khalil and football is thrown right in the middle.

Spencer’s (Ezra) voice is heard in this premiere episode, will we see him onscreen this season?

Absolutely. Spencer’s back onscreen this season. Olivia [Samantha Logan] is back onscreen, Laura Baker [Monet Mazur] is back onscreen, Patience [Chelsea Tavares] is back onscreen this season. So even though they’re not here as series regulars because their characters’ journeys have taken them elsewhere, they are still very much the heart and part of the foundation of the show. We also have Daniel directing this season, Karimah [Westbrook (Grace James)] is directing. It’s literally the whole family. I think that’s why the transition has also felt so beautiful: because they’ve all been around to support the new cast who have joined and the OG cast who are still here. The family just grew. It didn’t change, it just expanded. And that’s been so beautiful to watch and to see everyone flourish.

Season seven was renewed for an abbreviated 13 episodes, are you expecting an eighth season?

Listen, we’ve got plenty of stories to tell. We are hopeful for an eighth season. It’s why we introduced this new generation and sort of did a reset and took it back to the high stakes of high school football and high school love and all of that. My host producer hit me up, and he was like, “uh, so I just watched the first episode,” and I was like, “oh, my God, wait, don’t —”  I was so worried he was about to be like, “we’ve got a problem,” but he was like, “I’m in love, I’m in awe, I’m excited” — and he’s been here since season one. So I was like, “phew,” and then I finally got the director’s cut and was able to watch it. I’m so invested in these kids. I’m invested in Jordan and Layla’s marriage. I’m invested in Coop and these new friends she’s making. I’m so invested in the love triangles. I’m back to throwing my shoe at my TV and yelling at all the characters, so our hope is that our amazing, wonderful fans who’ve been so loyal and great over the last six seasons will give this new cast a chance as well because they truly are special.

Any update on whether you’re still considering additional spinoffs following the cancellation of All American: Homecoming?

Maybe… that’s all I’m gonna say. I come from back in the day, we’re talking 10 seasons, 31 episodes a season. Those are the YA shows I come from. As long as they will let me, I will keep telling the story. I will spin off the universe. There are so many tangential stories that we can grow a new tree from and I’m excited.

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Season seven of All American premieres Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. on The CW, with new episodes releasing Mondays.