After the hit series All American went on a quick “winter break” in the midst of season five, the show is FINALLY back tonight (January 23rd) at 8/7 CT for a brand new episode! We are so excited to see stars like Daniel Ezra, Samantha Logan, Michael Evans Behling, Greta Onieogou, Bre-Z, Taye Diggs, Monet Mazur, Karimah Westbrook, Cody Christian, Hunter Clowdus and more return to our screens every Monday.
Debuting in 2018, All American is The CW Network’s award-winning drama series about a young, high school football prodigy, Spencer James (played by Ezra), and his journey to becoming a big league football star. The show follows the real-life story of Spencer Paysinger, a former NFL player who was a part of the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers before retiring to serve as a co-producer and recurring character on the show.
Football aside, All American has been known to cover intense and controversial real-world topics since premiering nearly five years ago. With episodes covering racism, police brutality, gang violence, mental health, drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy and more, the show is EXTREMELY powerful and truly a must-see.
All American season five premiered in October of last year, and it follows a slightly different storyline than the previous seasons. Having grown up and graduated from both South Crenshaw High School and Beverly High School, the beloved friend group now deals with career struggles, college drama, wild parties, messy relationships and more in this new season, adding a different twist to the “high school” drama series.
On All American, rising actor Hunter Clowdus plays JJ Parker, a football star known for being the life of the party in both high school AND college. In the midst of the show’s hiatus this past December, we caught up with him backstage at 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball 2022, where he spilled ALL of the tea surrounding season five, as well as even more behind-the-scenes secrets.
Being a part of the cast since the very beginning, Clowdus’ character experiences quite a bit of growth from 2018 to now, which he says is “just so cool to see not just on the show, but just in life.”
While JJ Parker is currently a football player at Coastal California University in the hit series, that may not last for long. Now being in college, JJ’s “party animal” tendencies have began to take over and get him into some trouble in season five.
“The show started with us in high school, and now we’re in college, and there are repercussions for actions at this level that perhaps as a child you don’t, but as a young adult, you get in trouble for certain things, so it’s just causing him to grow up and mature, which is a welcome change for me,” Clowdus revealed to us in an exclusive interview.
As season five progresses, it will be interesting to see JJ mature and (hopefully) grow out of his partying phase, which is something we are yet to see from the character.
Acting aside, one thing to know about Hunter Clowdus and the All American cast is that they all have a great time together, with genuine friendships both on AND off camera.
“Currently we are filming. We’re about halfway through this season, and it is just a rollercoaster of emotions. The drama is at an all time high, and it makes it fun to go to work every day,” Clowdus shared with us. “It’s like shooting a project you really care about with your best friends, so it’s like every day is literally so much fun.”
We have no doubt that “every day is literally so much fun,” considering the fact that the cast has an ongoing ping pong tournament on set!
“There is an insane ping pong tournament that happens in the beach house,” Clowdus revealed. “Basically every day we shoot at Warner Brothers. Amongst the cast and the crew, there’s a ping pong table in the beach house and we literally play competitively, like as they’re setting up the next shot, we’re like playing ping pong. Yeah, I don’t think anyone knows that, but it gets very, very competitive.”
When we tune in to the brand new episode tonight, we will DEFINITELY be on the lookout for the iconic ping pong table.
Will you be tuning in to The CW Network tonight at 8/7 CT to see season five of All American return? If so, let us know how excited you are by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet @celebsecrets.
For more secrets about Hunter Clowdus, be sure to watch our exclusive interview from 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball 2022 below.
For more coverage from the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, click HERE.
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