SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the Season 6 finale of The CW’s All American and the Season 3 premiere of All American: Homecoming.
‘All American’ Star Daniel Ezra Reflects On His Exit & Says Season 6 Finale Is “Everything I Wanted”
There are some shakeups happening in the All American universe.
Season 6 of the flagship series ended Monday night with the departure of its star Daniel Ezra, who has led the show as Spencer James for six seasons. With Ezra gone, the show will be taking a new direction that returns to its high school roots, focusing on telling the stories of some newly introduced younger characters.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire original cast is taking a backseat. As the show is making this transition, showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll recognizes “you don’t want to do a clean sweep.”
With Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) taking a coaching position at South Crenshaw and Laura gifting her house to he and Layla (Greta Onieogou), it’s starting to look like these two may become the glue, so to speak, in forthcoming seasons.
Meanwhile, All American: Homecoming is ending after its current 13-episode Season 3. Simone (Geffri Maya) finally made a choice in her ongoing love triangle, and now her relationship with Damon (Peyton Alex Smith) is being tested since the baseball program at Bringston was eliminated and he’s opted to play pro ball in the Dominican Republic.
Despite the premature cancellation, surprisingly, it’s still the third installment that Carroll had always planned for.
In the interview below, Carroll spoke with Deadline about the Season 7 finale of All American , the future of the flagship series, and the one change she made to feel “peace” with The CW’s decision to cancel Homecoming.
DEADLINE: First of all, let’s start with what came out of these additional two episodes that we wouldn’t have gotten had it not been for that expansion.
NKECHI OKORO CARROLL: Well, the wedding was never going to be part of Season 6. So originally, the thought process was, ‘Okay, we get Spencer to the NFL. We’ll get the engagement, that would be enough of a completion of the story.’ And of course, because he’s going to come back and guest star, eventually we’ll, maybe in Season 7, have the wedding. But even as we were approaching that, it just didn’t feel complete. It felt like, as opposed to them coming back as guest stars to do their wedding, that we really needed to complete that story in Season 6. That was the whole reason I went to Warner Bros. and to the CW to ask for those two additional episodes. Literally, it was like, ‘I need Spelivia’s wedding weekend.’
DEADLINE: We all need it!
CARROLL: I think I said it exactly like that. I called Greg [Berlanti]. I was like, ‘In case the studio calls you and says I’ve lost my mind, I want Spelivia’s wedding weekend.’ He was like, ‘Done.’ To the studio’s credit and to CW’s credit, I guess that’s the beauty of a six-year partnership, even Brad [Schwartz] and the new CW were all so supportive and encouraging of letting me tell the story I wanted to tell, and in the way I wanted to tell it. So everyone buckled down and figured out how to get us those two extra episodes for the season.
I might have written them a little quicker than I’d hoped, by the time all the answers came down, but that entire run for episodes 614 and 615 were designed to give us two episodes dedicated to the relationship that we’ve been following basically since the end of the pilot In Season 1, when Layla intervened on that football field and changed the course of history. [So] that we would get to come back and really sit with them and enjoy the journey of the obstacles they’ve been through to get together and what that means for the strength of their love as we move into this next chapter in their lives.
DEADLINE: Many young adult shows have had to make this transition eventually. Friday Night Lights, Beverly Hills 90210… are there any that you took direct inspiration from when making this change to your show?
CARROLL: I am obsessed with YA shows, in case anyone doesn’t know that. I have watched them my whole life, still watch them today. Shout out to The Summer I Turned Pretty. I cannot wait for the next season. So all of those shows have always been an inspiration. The original Beverly Hills 90210 , Degrassi , Sweet Valley High . All of them are always an inspiration to me in my work. So even as I was looking at how to expand the All American universe beyond their high school and college years and the reality of what that story is, I had to keep reminding myself, what is the heart of the story of All American ? What is the heart of that story? What are the themes? What is the messaging? What has been so successful on this show? How do we continue to capture that in future seasons? The heart of it always came back to the YA of it all. The heart of it always came back to teens with these impossible dreams and us going on this aspirational journey with them. How do they reach that dream?
Spencer reached his dream. Olivia is a successful, best-selling author. She’s reached her dream. Layla has an incredible music producing career and has expanded into live entertainment. She reached her dream. Coop making it to law school. Talk about a dream she didn’t even realize she had until a pivot. As we’re looking at what the heart of the show is, it only made sense to bring it back to high school and reset the dreams. Similar to how other shows in the genre have done it before, you don’t want to do a clean sweep. There’s so much story to tell. I’d argue Beverly Hills 90210 did this the best of carrying the stories into their adulthood…They did such an incredible job of continuing to keep you invested in their lives even after they grew beyond their teen years. So that is absolutely going to continue to be part of the show as well. But the heart of the show is our teens, and especially our teens of color, and the journey to the dream while they’re battling their identity, while they’re battling their community and all these other things that come their way that could be perceived as obstacles. How do you surpass those to still get the joy and get the dream? That is at the heart of All American .
‘All American: Homecoming’ Canceled; EP Nkechi Okoro Carroll “Devastated” That Show Will End With Season 3 On CW
DEADLINE: So are we going to get Coach Jordan Baker in action?
CARROLL: Maybe.
DEADLINE: So how did you figure out that next phase of life for these characters? How do you plan out where they’re going now that their initial “dreams” are achieved?
CARROLL: Well, I mean, that’s all of us, right? I always talk about my mid-20s, right out of college, I achieved the dream of making it into the economics world and producing plays in New York. I’m very left and right brained, which ended up being perfect for being a showrunner, but at the time, I was like, ‘How do these two things reconcile? I love my job at the Fed, but I also love writing for theater and producing those plays…’ I used to call that, my quarter-life crisis, because it was such a shift. You’re an adult now, but you’ve still got a foot in your youth. The other writers and I have talked about storylines and journeys for some of our characters who aren’t the teens in high school anymore, but have matured into adulthood, but they’re still in that quarter-life crisis phase. There’s so many stories, and there’s so much stakes of adulthood, and what adulthood means as you’re just transitioning into it. It’s limitless. So we’re excited to tap into that as well.
DEADLINE: Did you have any conversations with the rest of the cast about this potentially being an opportunity to step back as you transition to a new generation?
CARROLL: I have that conversation with all the cast all the time. So much of everyone’s journey on this show has been a product of their trust in me. It’s been a product of my trust in them, of our continuous communication as we navigate through the stories. Those conversations are inevitable, especially when you’re going into Season 5, Season 6, Season 7 of a show that’s been on the air for over 100 episodes. I think those conversations are what breed a really family oriented, positive, beautiful work environment.
I’m almost always also interested in the actors in terms of, ‘What do you want to do next?’ When I find people I love working with, good luck trying to get away from me. I’m like, ‘No, no, we’ll just do your next project together.’ Once I find those people that we all gel really well with and have that same sensibility of, creating content with a foundation of love, kindness, respect, and how we do it, I just want to keep working with them. So I’m excited about what we’re going to see from a number of the talent from our show in their next chapter, whether it’s on the show or in future stuff. So I’m sure all of that will eventually come out soon, but I’m excited for all of this.
DEADLINE: Did anyone else, besides Daniel, want to take a more drastic step back in terms of their role?
CARROLL: It’s a hard question for me to answer, because none of it feels drastic to me, because we’ve all been in such communication for so long. But I think what I will say is, I think the fans of the show and the fans of these actors and these characters will continue to feel fed and will be excited about the next chapter for everyone on the show, whether it’s on the show or on something else.
DEADLINE: Okay. So, switching gears, I have a few Homecoming questions. First of all, Simone chose Damon?
CARROLL: Listen, I have never had so many arguments in my writer’s room. There were two camps in our room.
DEADLINE: So how did you decide? I remember you telling me that you had an idea, but that the writers were really trying to convince you otherwise.
CARROLL: We were very divided. We went with what I wanted. But it was hilarious to me. I would just come in the writers room sometimes, and I would holler, because the passion with which people were advocating for their person. I’m like, ‘This is what you want.’ I still fight over whether it’s Team Dylan or Team Brandon. That show [ 90210 ] hasn’t been on the air in a really long time, and so I loved that my writers had similar passion. But yes, in my mind, I always knew she was gonna pick Damon. As the episodes go along, her reasons for picking Damon and the journey she finds herself on now that he’s gone to play in the DR — I truly believe it is some of Geffri’s best work. She was just like, ‘Look, I feel like I should have an opinion on it, but I kind of just want to trust your vision or who you think I should pick, because you really sat on this for a while.’ So she was very trusting of the final decision, and even the Team Lando faction in the writer’s room, once I explained the direction we were going in and why, and then I wrote that first episode, were like, ‘Okay, no, we see you.’ It made for just fun, lively, awesome ideas and everything to come out over the course of this season as Simone embarks on this journey, now that she’s made the choice she’s made.
DEADLINE: How much did you change the season once the decision had been made to cancel the show?
CARROLL: I think I lifted one line. I was hoping the show would continue and structured Season 3 to be ongoing, still be satisfying in its own right, but definitely plant the seeds for future seasons. We were already done shooting, once I got the call about the cancelation, and I went back and started watching the cuts, and I was like, ‘You know what? This actually feels incredibly satisfying the way it is.’ I was in post on the finale, and I went back in and lifted one line. Sometimes you switch a word and you think it’s not a big deal, but one line could have such an impact. So when I went back and re-watched it, and I’m like, ‘As a fan, do I feel satisfied by this ending?’ Once I lifted that line, it did. It felt like, okay, I wish I got to see more of their future, but I’m so proud of where they ended now, and so it gave me some peace over the decision that had been made.
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