Taye Diggs returned to All American as Billy Baker for the latest episode of The CW series, over a year after he left the show.
The 53-year-old actor exited the series in the middle of season five when his character died in a bus accident, but he returned for the season six episode “Kids See Ghosts.”
So, how did he return? And what did showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll have to say?
Keep reading to find out more…
Taye returned as Billy through flashback scenes as his kids read letters that he wrote for them to open after they graduated college, though his wife decided they needed them a little early. Spencer, who was basically an adopted child of the family, was given Billy’s journal.
“Before Taye left, I made him promise that if I called, he would come back. And to Taye’s credit, from minute one, he was like, ‘Anytime you call, I am there. Whatever you need,’” Carroll told Variety. “I always knew there was no way we were never going to see Billy Baker again.”
Carroll opened up about the loss of her own father and how many writers and crew members on the show had similar experiences.
“When we all used to talk about our personal experiences, all of us sort of had the same moment of ‘I still talk to my dad,’ or ‘I found a letter of my dad’s and it triggered this conversation,’” she said. “There was always something. It was never just over for any of us when our fathers passed, and so we really wanted to honor the truth of that moment. I knew I wanted to do something where the important people in Billy’s life were having a conversation with him without realizing they were having a conversation with him. And then doing something distinct for Laura, because she talks to Billy every day anyway. She doesn’t need a journal. She doesn’t need a letter, because he’s always with her. That’s sort of what that final moment represented. He’s still there co-parenting the kids, to get them through these tough moments.”
Big cast changes could come for the potential seventh season.