Sad information, “All American” followers: the hit CW collection has formally retired Taye Diggs’s Billy Baker. In a surprising flip of occasions in the course of the present’s Feb. 13 episode, the actor’s character was killed off, ending his spectacular five-season run.
Showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll addressed Diggs’s departure in a press release to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “It has been an honor to work with Taye over these final 5 seasons and to observe him carry such unbelievable life to the function of Billy Baker. It has actually been a present for me and my fellow writers to write down a personality that was equally flawed and heroic. Billy was all of us and what a pleasure it was to observe this character develop as he raised his children and his soccer gamers as one large household.”
Carroll added, “We want Taye the easiest on this subsequent chapter of his life and he stays a beloved member of the ‘All American’ household, so you have not seen the final of Billy Baker.”
Diggs’s Billy is greatest remembered because the beloved soccer coach who’s been integral to “All American” for the reason that very starting, because the true-life-inspired present made its large debut in 2018. From recruiting Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) as a star participant at Beverly Hills High School, which began the collection’s journey, to being the spine of almost each main character’s storyline, his presence will actually be missed — particularly for the reason that collection is returning for a sixth season, per Variety.
If case you missed “All American”‘s newest episodes, learn forward to learn the way Diggs’s character will get written off the present and why the actor is making his exit.
How Does Billy Baker Die in “All American”?
The nice begin of “All American” season 5, episode 11, titled “Time,” does not put together viewers for its tragic ending, however it does tease what’s to return with delicate hints involving Billy (Diggs), who’s on his method out the door at South Crenshaw High. At a mix — the place the coach is joined by Spencer; his son, Jordan (Michael Evans Behling); and his outdated Beverly Hills High workforce — and all through the episode, lots of the characters query Billy’s resolution to depart the varsity. Ultimately, by the tip of the mix, he alters his thoughts and decides to remain. However, issues get intense when a schoolbus’s tire blows out and slides onto the sting of a cliff on the experience dwelling from the showcase.
Everyone exits and issues appear OK, till Billy later hops again onto the bus, which is barely hanging on, to save lots of his pupil Jabari Long (Simeon Daise), trapped inside. Though Billy’s loss of life isn’t explicitly proven on display, Spencer’s mother, Grace (Karimah Westbrook), comes by his home on the finish of the episode to interrupt the tragic information to his household, as a touching voicemail from Billy to Spencer about his resolution to remain at South Crenshaw performs within the background.
In the next episode, titled “Lost One,” Billy’s household and pals honor him with a heartwarming funeral, in addition to a community-wide candlelit vigil on the soccer subject at South Crenshaw, which is known as after him. Although his character is gone, Diggs’s Billy seems briefly in a flashback from Spencer’s recollections in the course of the service, so it is potential the actor might return sooner or later — extra on that forward.
Why Is Taye Diggs Leaving “All American”?
Diggs bid farewell to his “All American” character shortly after episode 11 aired and wrote a heartfelt message to followers on Instagram. “That’s a wrap! Thank you followers to your unrelenting assist. Thank you solid to your power and unmatched expertise. Y’all are EVERYTHING and can all the time be,” he penned in a caption on Feb. 15. “THANK YOU, NnKe For such a swish exit and for altering the trajectory of my life as an actor, dad or mum and a human being. SO MUCH LOVE.”
“I had executed all that I might and this chapter had form of closed and I used to be prepared to strive one thing else.”
Before that, the actor addressed his exit in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, noting the timing of his departure “was only a feeling.” He continued: “I approached [Carroll] very tentatively and mentioned ‘I have not [made] any selections, however that is what I’m pondering,’ and she or he understood. From that time on, she began giving me concepts of how I’d exit they usually have been so nice. As quickly as she instructed me what she was pondering, I beloved it. I like being on the present. Actors simply have an inside feeling. I had executed all that I might and this chapter had form of closed and I used to be prepared to strive one thing else.”
While some followers have questioned why Diggs’s departure warranted killing off his character, the actor instructed TVLine that he thought it was the one believable possibility. “The best alternative would have been for me to show at some faculty, however then given the depth of the relationships between me and my household, and me and the workforce, it could not make sense if I used to be nonetheless alive and wasn’t nonetheless involved with these kids of mine — these college students, these younger males that had such an affect on my life,” he defined. “When I used to be instructed how I used to be exiting, I used to be impressed. [Laughs] No characters I’ve performed have ever been handled in that style. I used to be honored.”
Carroll defended the present’s resolution as properly, telling The Wrap there was no different method for Diggs’s character to depart the present than to have him exit because the hero he is recognized to be. “There’s no model of Billy that’s leaving his children and household,” she mentioned. “There was no model of the story that made sense the place he is taking a training job and did not take Laura (Monét Mazur) with him at a minimal.” She added: “Staying alive and never being current in his household’s life, that is simply not who the character was. He must leave-leave.”
Will Taye Diggs Ever Return to “All American”?
Diggs’s Billy could have a chance to return to the present, as The Wrap notes that Carroll mentioned the actor “has agreed to return again as Billy in any type ought to the present want him sooner or later.” However, for now, the rest of “All American” season 5, and presumably season six, plans to concentrate on how the remainder of the characters will transfer ahead following the lack of Billy.
New episodes of “All American” air on Mondays on The CW.