Why Did Taye Diggs Leave ‘All American?’

It’s been about six months since All American season five came to an end. As with all seasons of All American, season five was filled with drama, but no season matched the dramatic moment of Coach Baker’s death in episode 12 of season five. Baker led a scouting combine for his South Crenshaw high school at an off-campus location. When the combine was complete, he along with team members that included Jabari and Asher, jumped on the team bus to return home. It was during the route home that the bus got into a car accident and went off a cliff where it was partially hanging for some time. In an attempt to save Jabari, Coach Baker was unable to save himself as he was still on the bus when it plummeted to the bottom.

Coach Baker’s death of course means that Taye Diggs, the actor who played Baker, will no longer be on the show. During an interview with Variety, the All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll spoke about the decision that led to Baker’s exit.

I had a pretty good idea at the end of last season that that was where the season was going. We were so incredibly lucky to have Taye Diggs be part of this production from day one, so one of the things that we’d always talked about was, we have no idea of how long we would be able to hold on to him. I mean, he’s Taye Diggs. So we were like, let’s always make sure we’re communicating with each other, and when it feels like it’s the right time, if we’re both feeling that way, we’ll have the conversation and figure out a really dope way to have him exit the show.

It became a mutual thing of, we have an opportunity to do something that no one is going to expect. Does this feel like the right time to do it We both felt like it was. Even though it was so far in advance, I already knew that whenever it would happen, that this was how I was going to do it. I pitched it to him like I was pitching an episode, beat by beat, even though it was still easily a year away. He was like, ‘It feels like the right time and it feels like the right way to do it.’ It just felt right for both of us.

Despite Diggs’ exit appearing to be permanent, the actor didn’t shut the door on a potential return. In a May interview with TVLine, Diggs said that he would be open to returning as a ghost or spirit of some sort “in the context of the boys are struggling, and they kind of envision me giving sage advice.”

It all remains to be seen as season six of All American is right around the corner.

‘All American’ season 5 is now available to stream on Netflix.