Words by: Sentwali Holder
As reported in Shadow and Act, The CW’s soon to be strategically planted spinoff of the hit show All American has announced six cast members. What’s considered a backdoor pilot for a potential new series, All American: Homecoming, will air as an episode within the third season of All American. But they obviously have bigger ideas on where to take this franchise.
So in addition Geffri Maya, who plays lead Simone Hicks, and is reprising her role for the spinoff, Peyton Alex Smith, Kelly Jenrette, Cory Hardrict, Sylvester Powell, and Camille Hyde have been added.
Executive producing and writing the pilot is All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll. The pilot spinoff is also executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, Robbie Rogers. Michael Schultz is the director. Producers for All American Homecoming, include Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
According to the network: ALL AMERICAN: HOMECOMING is a young adult sports drama set against the backdrop of the HBCU experience. From the executive producers of ALL AMERICAN, the show follows a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills and an elite baseball player from Chicago as they contend with the high stakes of college sports, while also navigating the highs, lows, and sexiness of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious Historically Black College.
Smith plays Damon Sims, “a nationally ranked high school baseball prodigy, Damon is originally from the south side of Chicago, but his family moved to an affluent neighborhood shortly after his Little League team was involved in a controversial national scandal. An experience that had more of a long-term effect on him than he realized. Baseball, once his number one love, has now become like a job, in part due to his mother-turned-manager.”
Jenrette plays Amara Patterson, “a successful journalist-turned-journalism professor, Amara is Simone’s aunt and the most popular professor on campus. Despite her success as the youngest full-time professor in Bringston’s history, Dr. Patterson’s unapologetic activism occasionally puts her at odds with her family.
Hardrict will play Coach Marcus Turner, who “played baseball at Bringston University and was drafted into pro ball, only to have an injury sideline his career. Now assistant head baseball coach at Bringston, he is tough, blunt, and committed to raising honorable young men.”
Powell plays Jessie Raymond Jr., “an Atlanta native and varsity baseball player, Jessie became friends with Damon as teen ballplayers on the national scene. Though he is skilled and hard-working, he doesn’t have Damon’s natural gift on the field, and constantly being in his shadow is complicating their friendship.”
Walker will play Keisha McCalla, who “having grown up on campus with her dad, an administrator at the University, is the life of the party and the unofficial mayor of Bringston University — knowing everyone and everything, despite only being a freshman. Although Pre-Med, she would pursue her dream of dance instead of medicine if given the choice — much to her father’s dismay.”
Hyde is Thea May, “a queen-bee sophomore that gives off slight mean girl tendencies. A tennis prodigy, she takes her responsibility for representing the Black community in the sport very seriously. Simone’s arrival at Bringston shakes things up for Thea as her instant dislike of her rival clashes with the bond they share as Black women in Tennis.