IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

'All American' star, showrunner on how the teen drama's storylines are inspired by real life

The show was nearly canceled in season one. Now in its fourth season, it's been in Netflix's top 10 shows and is getting a spinoff.
Surviving the Times
Daniel Ezra (center) plays Spencer James on the hit drama "All American," based on the real-life story of former NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger.Bill Inoshita / The CW
/ Source: TODAY

Daniel Ezra was in his native London walking home from the barbershop when he got the call to fly to Los Angeles the next morning to audition for a role in an untitled project.

"I was waiting in L.A. for three days and I didn't hear anything the next day," Ezra said. "I was just in a hotel, just waiting for the phone to ring. And then I decided, 'OK, well, I probably didn't get it because I would've heard by now. I want to do some Hollywood stuff before I leave; who knows when I'll be back.' I went to Griffith Park up to the Hollywood sign. And it was while I was up there, my agent called me and said they want me to play Spencer."

Spencer James is an honor roll student and football star from the untitled project that became CW's hit teen drama "All American." Its fourth season premiered Oct. 25. The show follows students from both underfunded and affluent schools competing in high school football while saddled with jealousy, addiction, depression, gang and gun violence, police brutality and other issues.

Ezra and showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll spoke to TMRW in a Zoom interview about their own personal connections to the show's storylines and what fans can expect in season four.

Ezra said one of the reasons he signed up for the project was to explore the mental and emotional pressure put on high-performing high school athletes to make it to the next level.

"Football is a really cool backdrop for the show," he said. "The sheer amount of money and pressure and attention that's put on these kids, these high-level athletes at 16, 17, 18, is unfathomable. And it was something that blew my mind. The first time I went to a college football stadium, I was like, 'You mean to tell me 80,000 people came up to watch 19-year-olds play football,' and everyone was like, 'Yeah.' It blew my mind. There's some towns where it's like the whole town shut down to go and watch a high school game. And so I was always curious about what that must do to these kids mentally."

Mental health is a recurring theme in the show. And a defining feature of Spencer's character, Ezra said, is his savior complex, which manifests as feeling obligated to rescue his community as they face issues such as school closures, relapses or pressure to join a gang.

Decisions
Ezra's character, Spencer James, speaks at a meeting in which school leaders decided to close his underfunded high school. Tina Thorpe / The CW

Ezra said a lot of his character's issues are due to being a parentified child, or a young person who has adult responsibilities placed on them during their adolescent years. It's common among teens who grow up in single-parent households.

"And so it means that whenever someone comes into his life that he cares about or has an intimate relationship to, he goes into defend-and-protect mode because that's what a father is expected to do," he said. "And even though he's just a teenager, even though he's just 17 and this is supposed to be (a time of) fun, enjoyment, he can't help but see the world through the lens of I have to take care of all my babies."

That feeling hits home for Ezra, who said he's in therapy to unlearn some of his own savior tendencies.

"I relate to Spencer in that way," Ezra said. "A lot of those scenes, a lot of conversations Spencer has are conversations I've had with my own mother in a very similar, almost scarily similar way. And so I do feel that sense of responsibility, for sure. And sometimes it can be debilitating. ... I felt that as a kid for sure, feeling like I needed to protect everyone, defend everyone, come to everyone's rescue. Like Spencer in the show, I ended up going to therapy to kind of figure out some kind of sense of balance and peace."

"All American" showrunner and head writer Nkechi Okoro Carroll said that a personal connection is key to the show's success. In fact, the premise is based on the real-life story of former NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger. The writers room pulls from his personal experiences as well as their own and adapts them for the show.

"The way we tackle the subjects we tackle on the show that seem very big and sort of global is to just to tell it through our personal experiences. And that tends to make it connect on a more individual basis, that tends to make it more relatable for the audience. Because if they haven't experienced it themselves, then I promise you they know someone who has in that kind of specificity," Carroll said.

Seasons Pass
In one episode, Spencer and his friends respond to a police officer fatally shooting an unarmed Black woman by painting Black Lives Matter on the floor of their predominantly white school.Erik Voake / The CW

She added that this philosophy is why she signed up to run the show in the first place.

"I'm obsessed with teen dramas ... I grew up on the original 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' 'Dawson's Creek,' 'One Tree Hill,' those are my shows. And so the opportunity to relate to a young audience like that, but have people who looked like me and people who looked like my son and people who looked like my friends, I was like, wait, we get to do this, but we get to do it in the Black community and people of all colors get to see their story but through our community as opposed to the other way around, which is how it often is. That was very exciting to me.

"And also, I've made no secret of the fact that I completely use this show to raise my son. If there's a conversation I need to have with my teen son, I usually put it in Spencer's mouth because he'll be like, 'Mom, Spencer said blah blah blah,' and I'll be like 'Oh, my gosh, I wonder where that came from. But yeah, let's talk about that,' so it's a way to connect with my kids."

Ezra and Carroll said the show was nearly canceled in season one. Now in its fourth season, it's been on Netflix's top 10 shows and Entertainment Weekly ranked it No. 43 on its top 50 all-time greatest teen shows. The cast and crew are hopeful for a fifth season.

"I don't know that we did anything different than what we were doing," Carroll said. "People found us, which we're incredibly grateful for. The network gave us the space and time. And yes, it was one of those things where I don't think we're necessarily the traditional show you expect to find on the CW, not in this iteration of the show. And so it took people a minute to realize what the show was and where to find it. And having that second window on Netflix definitely helped. And then I think the biggest reward was that the show spoke for itself. So once people found it and word of mouth spread, it just continued to grow and grow."

My Mind\'s Playing Tricks On Me
Showrunner and head writer Nkechi Okoro Carroll said showing Black joy was a top priority while they were writing season four.Anne Marie Fox / The CW

The show picks up in season four with the characters finding and settling into their joy after overcoming many of their problems in the first three seasons. Carroll said their new focus is enjoying what the characters have worked toward — namely, finishing senior year and transitioning into adulthood and college.

"Being a young Black teen is such an all-encompassing experience because, as my son can testify to, we often don't just get to see teens because we also have to deal with everything else that comes with being Black youth in America, and we saw a lot of that in season three," Carroll said. "It was really important to me that all of these trials and tribulations that they've been through resulted in this growth where they could find joy in the world and experience it and lean into it regardless of what was happening."

Up next for the "All American" franchise is a spinoff series, "All American: Homecoming," created by Carroll. The spinoff is set at a historically Black college in Georgia and premieres next year.

"I really wanted a show that just screamed about Black excellence and Black joy and seeing these young Black students pursuing their multitude of dreams."