‘All American’: Daniel Ezra & Michael Evans Behling Break Down [Spoiler]’s Return & That Emotional Final Scene

Ending a series after eight seasons is both a privilege and a gargantuan task, but it’s what Nkechi Okoro Carroll and the All American creative team were asked to do this year after almost a decade on the air. One of the first calls that Carroll made after she was informed the show would get a final season to wrap up storylines was to Daniel Ezra. The actor left the show as a series regular at the end of Season 6 but returned in later seasons as both a director and guest star. Carroll wanted him to do it one last time for the show’s final run. She also called Taye Diggs. Warning: Spoilers for the All American series finale ahead!

“It was an honor,” Ezra told TV Insider of Carroll’s request for him to direct and star in the All American series finale. “NK called me and asked me. She said, ‘I can’t think of anyone else I’d want to do it.’ It made me very emotional, and then immediately scared. Emotionally, I was like, ‘Oh, man, this episode has to be good now because it’s the last one. It’s the one that everyone is going to remember.’ I begged her for the script. ‘Get me the script as soon as you can, so I can start figuring this thing out.’ She wanted to pack a lot in and make it cool. She told me her plan for the season, and I knew I had my work cut out for me, but I was excited.”

The cast was also happy to have Ezra at the helm of the final episode as everyone said goodbye to these characters. “It was really meaningful to us because he’s the heart of the show,” Michael Evans Behling said. “He’s somebody who, as a director, has become very comfortable, and he makes us feel very comfortable. I know when I’m receiving a note from him or direction from him, that’s my brother for eight years. I feel really fortunate that he came back not only for Spencer’s journey, but also to help bring the ship home.”

The finale caught the audience up on where Spencer has been while Liv (Samantha Logan) was rushed to the hospital in premature labor with their twin babies. Coop’s (Bre-Z) local news alert that Spencer needed to call home finally reached him during his ultra-private negotiations to be traded from New York to LA so he and Liv can raise their family where they grew up. His phone was returned so that he could rush to the hospital and be there for his children’s birth.

Kevin Estrada/The CW

Once the twins arrived safely, the show flashed forward six years to show how the OG characters and the new-generation vortex achieved their dreams, and it ended where it began — on a high school football field. Spencer and Jordan sat alone on the 50-yard line and discussed what the game has brought them and how it has shaped the men they have become. It’s a simple scene compared to the football action All American has put together over the years, but there were doubts it would make it to the finale, starting at the table read.

“Daniel and I were sitting across from each other, and there was probably 25 seconds of silence because I couldn’t physically get the words out because I was crying silently,” Behling confessed. “People were like, ‘Are we still doing this?’ I thought that was the worst of it and I’d get out there on the field, got the emotions out, and it would be great. I was so incredibly wrong. Even though we fully wrapped a few days later, to know that was going to be the final button of the show, there were just tears through every single take.”

The emotions were still raw and on the surface because Ezra didn’t want to rehearse the scene in advance, so there was still plenty to come out of the actors once they actually made it to the field.

“We put the cameras down and just shot it because that was not something I was interested in directing. What am I going to say to Mike after all these years? What direction am I going to give him? Let’s just roll the cameras and go,” Ezra explained. “It ended up being one of the simplest and easiest scenes to shoot. It was probably the scene where I did the least as the director. It was just Mike and me. It was Spencer and Jordan after eight years with everything. It was tough, and it was beautiful and heavy and all those things. I could have done it forever. I could have said, ‘Let’s do it again,’ not because we wanted to make it better, but just because I wanted to live in that moment some more.”

Related

'All American' Cast Pitch Their Dream Spinoffs (Exclusive)

Their conversation reveals just how far the characters have come over the course of eight seasons. Behling was most proud of Jordan becoming a leader and someone his family can depend on, while Ezra realized that Spencer’s journey wasn’t complete until he became a father.

“So much of who he was was defined by the fathers in his life, Corey and Billy. Seeing him get the girl is one thing. Seeing him married and win the Super Bowl, and seeing him do all those wonderful things, I thought it was complete. Now after watching this episode, I’m like, ‘No, we needed to see him become a dad. Now it is complete. I was wrong.’ We filled all his holes,” the director-actor said.

The tears came when Jordan confessed to Spencer that he wished Billy was there to see what they’ve made of themselves. Little did the audience know that Carroll made one more call after Ezra committed to directing the finale.

“God bless Taye Diggs, because I also called him as soon as we got the Season 8 pickup. I was like, ‘So, I have this idea. Budget is tight, but we can try to make whatever work.’ I didn’t finish pitching him the story before he said yes,” Carroll revealed.

Diggs exited the show in Season 5 after his character Billy Baker was killed in a bus accident. The final moments of All American saw Spencer and Jordan walking off the field together to return home to their respective families. The camera panned around from their retreating forms to show Billy standing by the goalpost, watching his biological and surrogate sons with a proud smile from the beyond.

The CW

As much of an emotional gut-punch as it was to see Billy at the end of the series, having Diggs on set for the final episode was a welcome balm for a cast and crew mourning the end of their journey together. “Any time Taye is on set, it’s a party,” Behling attested. “He just brings a lightness to the set.”

“You can’t be emotional around Taye because he’ll turn everything into a joke,” Ezra added. “He was the perfect person to have on that set because everyone was heavy and emotional. Everyone was tearful, and then Taye skips in and starts making fun of everyone. It was beautiful because that’s been Taye for the entire run of the show.”

The show couldn’t have said goodbye without him, according to the powers that be.

“There’s no version of the end of the series that felt right without Billy Baker, even posthumously,” Carroll declared. “As many of us who have lost parents can attest to, they never really leave you. A little bit of that feeling is knowing they are there with angel wings, constantly looking over your life. It was important to us that we show Billy was always there with them.”

For Ezra, having that final moment was the perfect way to end the series that kickstarted his career. “It’s just the perfect bookend,” he said. “I really thought we ended it the best way. Having Taye there just took it to another level.”