All American

All American
Genre	Sports drama
Created by	April Blair
No. of seasons	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
No. of episodes	106
Original release	October 10, 2018
Production
Executive producer(s)	April Blair Nkechi Okoro Carroll Greg Berlanti Sarah Schechter
Running time	42-49 minutes
Production company(s)	Berlanti Productions

All American is an American sports drama series created by April Blair. The series is inspired by the life of professional football player Spencer Paysinger. It premiered on The CW on October 10, 2018.

On April 23, 2019, The CW announced a second season renewal. On January 7, 2020, Season Three was announced. On February 4, 2021, Season Four was announced. On March 22, 2022, Season Five was announced. On January 11, 2023, Season Six was announced. On June 3, 2024, Season Seven was announced.

Logline

"When a rising high school football player from South Crenshaw L.A. is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High, the wins, losses and struggles of two families from vastly different worlds — Crenshaw and Beverly Hills — begin to collide. Inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger."

Cast

Main Cast

• Daniel Ezra as Spencer James (seasons 1—6; special guest season 7)
• Bre-Z as Tamia "Coop" Cooper (seasons 1—present)
• Greta Onieogou as Layla Keating seasons 1—present)
• Samantha Logan as Olivia Baker (seasons 1—present)
• Michael Evans Behling as Jordan Baker (seasons 1—present)
• Cody Christian as Asher Adams (seasons 1—present)
• Karimah Westbrook as Grace James (seasons 1—present)
• Monet Mazur as Laura Baker (seasons 1—present)
• Taye Diggs as Coach Billy Baker (seasons 1—5; special guest season 6)
• Jalyn Hall as Dillon James (seasons 1—present)
• Chelsea Tavares as Patience Robinson (seasons 3—present; recurring seasons 1—2)
• Hunter Clowdus as JJ Parker (seasons 4—5; recurring seasons 1—3)

Production

Development

In September 2017, it was announced that Greg Berlanti signed on to executive produce two drama projects in development at The CW; one was an "epic love story told in two time lines" titled "Hold Fast," and the other being inspired by the life of National Football League player Spencer Paysinger, which would be written and executive produced by April Blair, with Berlanti and Sarah Schechter being executive producers as well. In January 2018, The CW ordered six pilots including the untitled football inspired project dubbed Spencer. On May 11, 2018, The CW ordered the pilot to series. The following week, the network added All American to their fall 2018 lineup. On October 2, 2018, it was reported that Blair had stepped down as showrunner due to "personal reasons" and was subsequently replaced with co-executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who was also made an executive producer.

Casting

In March 2018, nine series regulars and one co-star were added to the cast. Among all ten, Daniel Ezra was cast as lead role Spencer James. Jalyn Hall was promoted to a series regular on May 31.

Filming

Filming for the pilot took place in Los Angeles, California in early 2018. Filming for the first season began in July 2018.

Spin-off

Main article: All American: Homecoming

On December 18, 2020, it was announced that The CW is in early development of a backdoor pilot for a spin-off of Geffri Maya's character Simone Hicks reprising her role from All American. On February 1, 2021, The CW gave the spin-off a pilot order and titled it as All American: Homecoming. On May 24, 2021, The CW picked up the show to series.