Taye Diggs (The Best Man, Set It Up) exits All American in a shocking twist. Diggs has stared in The CW teen drama since it premiered in 2018 and will not be in the rest of the current season, via The Hollywood Reporter.
Diggs played the character of Billy Baker on the drama for the last five seasons. In a shocking turn of events the character met an untimely death in the February 13 episode. All American is the story of two worlds colliding when a star football player from Crenshaw is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High. Billy Baker is the influential football coach to the main character played by British actor Daniel Ezra (All American, The Missing).
Diggs has been a vital character and cast member to the All American cast for its entire five-season run. The series has consistently been one of the highest-rated shows at The CW. It has already been renewed for its sixth season. The drama is executively produced by Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon, The Flash) and Warner Bros. TV, and it was the first to be renewed under The CW’s new ownership, Nexstar.
The departure of Diggs comes as a shock to fans, but showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll (All American, The Internship) reveals that it had been planned in an interview with Variety. She describes in the interview that the decision to kill off the character was made about a year ago, but that after communicating with Diggs regarding the future of the character that “It [felt] like the right time and it [felt] like the right way to do it.’ It just felt right for both of [them].” The remainder of the season will explore how the different characters cope with his death.
Diggs, meanwhile, recently reprised his role as Harper Stewart in Peacock’s The Best Man: The Final Chapters, the spinoff series to the films The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday. He is also most known for famous broadway musical Rent and features How Stella Got Her Groove Back as well as Murder in the First among his lengthy list of film, TV and stage credits.
All American earned an early season six renewal last month. Its spinoff show, All American: Homecoming , is currently airing its second season.
All American new episodes air on The CW, Mondays at 8 p.m.