‘All American’ Showrunner Claims Season 3 ‘Changed’ Every Character in Season 4
In the CW series All American, the main characters have gone through life-changing experiences. In the season 3 finale, audiences witnessed the characters encounter deadly situations. Whether it’s Coop (Bre-Z) getting shot or Layla’s (Greta Onieogou) terrifying ordeal with Carrie (Anne Lore), the group of teenagers has endured a lot. Ahead of the season premiere, the series showrunner explained why the events in the third season “changed” the characters forever.
‘All American’ showrunner teases the main character’s future in the series
All American Season 3 ended on several cliffhangers, leaving lingering questions about the character’s fate. Before the season 4 premiere, All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll spoke with TV Guide and shared that no character will emerge unscathed from the previous season.
“There isn’t a character on the show that isn’t changed in some way by the events of the Season 3 finale,” she explained. “We’ll be looking at characters who are evolving and adjusting and making different decisions because of everything that happened.”
Carroll says the fourth season serves as a ‘rebirth’ for the characters
During the interview, Carroll revealed that All American Season 4 serves as a “rebirth” for the show’s central characters. The showrunner shared the trauma experienced in the third season will change the teenagers’ lives. “It’s almost like we’re seeing a new version of them,” she added. “They’re not the same juniors that we met in Season 1.”
Carroll continued, “They’re in the back half of their senior year. They’re older. They’ve been through a lot, and as a result, we’re going to see a slightly different version of them emerge after the [premiere].”
In addition, viewers will see a “grown version” of Spencer James. In an interview with TVLine, Carroll teased the fourth season would showcase a mature character who is “learning to put his oxygen mask on first” before helping others.
“He’s notorious for feeling survivor’s guilt for the blessings he has in his life,” she added. “But we’re also dealing with a Spencer who’s grown since then. Who’s been in therapy since then.”
The state championship will remain a prominent plot point in ‘All American’ Season 4
Although the state championship winners were declared in the season premiere, the event will remain a pivotal plotline in All American Season 4. Carroll told TV Guide, “There will be the results of that state championship game that will be discussed frequently and actually have [a] ripple effect in plot points, in opportunities in people’s lives, and the directions of people’s lives throughout the first half of the season. We’ll be feeling the effects of that for quite a while.”
Even though the championship game concludes their high school careers, Carroll teased that football will remain an “active part of the show” as the teammates grapple with scholarship offers and all that comes with it. “We’re really going to be playing out the authentic sort of stories of what happens with college recruitment, the pressure these student-athletes are under, what happens when you don’t have as many offers on the table as you’re approaching signing day,” Caroll explained.
She continued, “Football will absolutely be at the very forefront of the storylines this season, and, I would argue, in a more intricate and nuanced way in terms of us getting into the nitty-gritty of student athletics, more so than we have before.”
All American airs on Mondays at 8 pm E.T on The CW.
