‘All American’ Co-Showrunner Jamie Turner Talks ‘Symbolic’ Finale Cliffhanger Amid Cancellation Fears (Exclusive)

All American co-showrunner Jamie Turner spoke to PopCulture.com about The CW drama’s Season 7 finale, including the cliffhanger.

Monday’s episode, “Award Tour,” ended on a major cliffhanger, and the series hasn’t even been renewed for Season 8 yet.

Showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll told PopCulture that the finale included a “very personal rivalry” coming to a head, and that included not only South Crewnshaw and Beverly, but Cassius and Jordan, and Khalil and KJ. All four, and their respective teams, poured their hearts out on the football field during the playoffs, and even with a blackout, that didn’t stop the spirit of everyone. Unfortunately, just before time ran out and before fans could see who won, the episode ended.

Considering All American, The CW’s last remaining original scripted series, remains in danger of cancellation, the cliffhanger was a bit shocking. But it’s the way that they planned it, as Turner thinks that “the beauty of the cliffhanger is in a lot of ways symbolic because, as we know, like football, our best football games, obviously, this rivalry between South Crenshaw and Beverly, at its core, yes, it’s about football and who’s gonna win the game.”

“But in reality, it is about all of the personal connective tissue that is actually going on,” he continued. “And this game, even though it is a game, what’s really kind of behind it is there’s still unresolved tension between Jordan and Cassius. And so we felt that, as they still need time to kind of work through their thing, we wanted a moment that felt very symbolic of the stressed relationship between the two of them. And I just felt like it was the perfect way to kind of launch us into the next season, and plus, it was the strongest ending that we could find for the end of this episode.”

If All American is renewed for Season 8, the show already has a great lead-in with how Season 7 ended, between the cliffhanger, Breonna and Coop’s relationship, and Amina getting into Dinsberg. But if the series isn’t renewed, it will forever keep fans guessing and wondering just how it could have gone. Even though it is certainly a stressful situation, it’s still hard to tell which way The CW is leaning. The network will likely make its decision any day now, so in the meantime, Season 7 of All American will be hitting Netflix on Tuesday, May 13, joining the other six seasons.