Taye Diggs is making an unexpected return to All American.
Variety reports that Diggs will guest-star on the May 20 episode of All American, despite his character dying in the fifth season. As Shadow and Act reported in February, Diggs’ character Coach Billy Baker unexpectedly died after trying to save Jabari (Simeon Daise) from a bus accident.
It’s not clear on how Billy will come back in this episode, but it makes the most sense that he’d be back in a flashback because, as far as what showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll and Diggs have said about the character, Billy is firmly dead and won’t come back in the main timeline.
Carroll said in February that even though Baker has died, it wouldn’t be the last time we’d see him. As she told The Hollywood Reporter, “It has been an honor to work with Taye over these last five seasons and to watch him bring such incredible life to the role of Billy Baker.”
“It has truly been a gift for me and my fellow writers to write a character that was equally flawed and heroic,” she continued. “Billy was all of us and what a joy it was to watch this character grow as he raised his kids and his football players as one big family. We wish Tay the very best in this next chapter of his life and he remains a beloved member of the All American family, so you haven’t seen the last of Billy Baker.”
Diggs also told TVLine that while had a great time on All American, “[i]t was just a feeling that I got [that I was ready to leave], and I just honored that feeling. It was maybe mid-fourth season.”
He continued, saying that he and Carroll are close and had been talking about his trajectory on the show. “[W]e decided how to go about it, and storylines and whatnot, so it was all above board, and everyone was in the know.” He also added that it made more sense for his character to die because if his character just went off to teach at the college level, “it would not make sense if I was still alive and wasn’t still in contact with these children of mine–these students, these young men that had such an influence on my life.”