‘All American’: Michael Evans Behling On Jordan’s Path Toward Healing After Billy’s Death, His Friendship With Spencer & A “Large Decision” Looming

deadline.com:

How do people, even members of the same family, deal with their grief differently? That’s the question that The CW‘s All American is seeking to tackle in the episodes following the death of Coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs).

After spotlighting Billy’s wife Laura (Monet Mazur) and his daughter Olivia (Samantha Logan), Monday night’s episode hones in on how his son Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) is handling the loss of his father — the man he looked up to most. “You’re gonna see him struggle with certain things that Billy left behind that maybe Billy wasn’t able to finish…and he will continue to be there for others who are still hurting,” Behling told Deadline, adding: “You’re gonna see that throughout the rest of the season.” Over the course of the episode, Jordan struggles to pick up where Billy left off, from fixing household appliances to trying to repair and reinvigorate the GAU football program all on his own.

Behling spoke with Deadline about the episode, including how Jordan stepping up to the plate will impact his decisions in future episodes and how his own healing will allow him to be there for others. DEADLINE: How did you feel when you first read the episode and realized how much weight Jordan would be carrying? MICHAEL EVANS BEHLING: Leading up to getting the scripts, I can remember a lot of the writers and even some producers from the CW, were [teasing that] Jordan had a really big episode.

Upon reading the script, I was like,’ Okay, it’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be a good episode, because it kind of allows Jordan to step into this role of filling the void that his father left.’ He’s grieving his father in his own way.