All American star Taye Diggs has exited the CW series.
All American is a sports drama inspired by the life of former football pro Spencer Paysinger. The series follows Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), a high school football player from South Los Angeles who is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High.
Diggs had played Billy Baker, the Beverly High football coach, since the show's debut in 2018.
In Monday's episode, the team was involved in crash that left their bus hanging halfway off of a cliff. Billy (Diggs) died while trying to save Jabari (Simeon Daise), who was stuck in the bus.
"It has been such an honor to work with Taye over these last five seasons and to watch him bring such incredible life to the role of Billy Baker," showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll said in a statement. "It has truly been a gift for me and my fellow writers to write a character that was equally flawed and heroic. Billy was all of us and what a joy it was to watch this character grow as he raised his kids and his football players as one big family. We wish Taye the very best in this next chapter of his life and he remains a beloved member of the All American family, so you haven't seen the last of Billy Baker."In an interview with Variety, Carroll said she and Diggs started discussing the plot twist in Season 4.
"It became a mutual thing of, we have an opportunity to do something that no one is going to expect. Does this feel like the right time to do it? We both felt like it was," Carroll said.
All American also stars Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Samantha Logan, Michael Evans Behling, Cody Christian, Karimah Westbrook and Monet Mazur. The series is created by April Blair.
