With the start of season 4 for Friday Night Lights came a whole slew of new characters. As old graduates moved on, fresh new faces filled their places. Click here for a wonderful interview with this season’s newest additions played by Michael B. Jordan, Jurnee Smollett and Matt Lauria.
As for ‘Friday Night Lights’ fifth and suspected final season, the show is debuting a whole bunch of new characters.
Grey Damon who has appeared on episodes of 90210 and Greek will portray Hastings Ruckle, an East Dillon basketball player who joins the Lions as a wide receiver. Look for Hastings to be one of the more popular kids at school.
Lynn Blackburn will play a character named Laurel. According to Entertainment Weekly, she will be an intelligent, tough teacher at East Dillon who befriends the school’s newest hire, Tami. This will be Lynn Blackburn’s first acting role.
Emily Rios has also been cast for at least six episodes as Epyck, a rebellious, goth student. You may recognize her as Maria on Men of a Certain Age this year, and she also appeared on a 2008 episode of House.
Jeff Rosick will play the new face of Buddy Jr., and he will be back next season with an attitude. He will be even more trouble than when he came to Dillon last time. Buddy Jr. has been away for two years in California and when FNL returns this fall on DirecTV, we’ll see Buddy Jr. back in Dillon – and very unhappy about that fact.
So there you have it, FNL’s newest members, thanks to TV Fanatic for the scoop! And remember, you can catch FNL on NBC, Fridays at 8/7c.
Could this be the year that ‘Friday Night Lights’ finally wins a well-deserved Emmy? Recently there has been a campaign to bring FNL the Emmy recognition it deserves thanks to Ask Ausiello.
Since it began in 2007, FNL has only been nominated three times, once for directing and twice for casting (which it won once in 2007), but despite all the critical acclaim, it has yet to be acknowledged for its true potential. Hopefully this will be their year!
If it were up to me, Friday Night Lights would be getting Emmys all around.
What do we have to look forward to in the upcoming season? Well, producer Jason Katims spoke about all our fan favourites and more in a new interview with E! News…
On the future of Riggins: One of the things we’ve always talked about for Tim is he might be a guy who winds up in Dillon for life, but not necessarily in a sad way or tragic way. That’s one of the notions that I’ve always liked, was the idea that maybe at the end of the show he might be one of the few people who end up in Dillon, but not in the way that “He never got out of the small town,” but more in a way that “He loves that town and wants to embrace it.”
On the return of Lyla: She comes back for at least two episodes this year, so far, visiting from college… she and Tim sort of rekindle their relationship and try to figure out what to do about that… they maybe realize it’s not so easy to move on.
On Buddy’s dilemma: Buddy certainly starts out a Panther – but things happen along the way that make him question his allegiance to the Panthers. Are they still the Panthers at all? And he also has a deep friendship and bond with Coach Taylor, so his journey this season is about which side is he on.
On Saracen’s decision to remain in Dillon: That’s very much a story this season, not only about his grandmother but his relationship with Julie. It’s a story about somebody who has made a lot of choices about making those around him happy and then what comes into question for him is what is right for him?
On the East Dillon Lions: We will absolutely see them play football, they might not play quite as well as the Panthers, but we will see them play. We will follow their season; that will be the show this year.
On Tami and Eric: The [town] split definitely creates some tense moments between them. The thing that I love so much about Coach and Tami, as they’ve been realized by Kyle and Connie, is what a beautiful relationship they have and how well they overcome obstacles. What’s fun for us as writers is try to throw as many things at them to watch them emerge with their marriage intact.
We try to find new things to throw at them. We knew Coach was moving to this new school, so we decided to keep Tami at West Dillon and to have that be a story point throughout the season for these two people who are in these two very different worlds now and at certain times those worlds very directly collide.
Friday Night Lights returned for its fourth season last Wednesday on DirecTV’s 101 Network, and boy am I excited for what’s to come! With a all the restructuring and change that’s been happening in Dillon, I am really optimistic to see where the writers will take the show this season.
I found a wonderful article recapping the episode on the LA Times website. Hope you’re as excited as I am!
You can check out Scott Porter next in Bandslam staring Lisa Kudrow, Alyson Michalka and Vanessa Hudgens.
The plot surrounds a boy named Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) who used to being bullied or completely ignored by his schoolmates, so when cool and popular former cheerleader Charlotte Barnes (Alyson Michalka) starts inviting him to spend time with her, the teenager is stunned — as is his single mom Karen (Lisa Kudrow). Impressed by his eclectic knowledge of music, Charlotte, a gifted singer-songwriter, asks Will to manage her rock/ska band. Her goal is to take revenge on her egocentric musician ex-boyfriend Ben Wheatley (Scott Porter) at a regional battle of the bands.
Unsure of what he’s getting himself into, Will agrees to help Charlotte’s band, including Bug (Charlie Saxton) and Omar (Tim Jo), eventually expanding it with a crew of like-minded outcasts. Against all odds, the group’s sound starts to come together and their prospects for success look bright. Even more surprising, Will starts losing his “loser-status”, up to the point there is a potential romance brewing with Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens), a classmate with untapped musical talents.
Perpetually a misfit, Will strikes up a friendship with like-minded outsider Sam. They are both surprised when the school’s “it” girl, Charlotte recruits Will to help assemble a band to compete in “Bandslam,” a battle of the bands that is “Texas High School Football BIG.” Charlotte’s ex-boyfriend Ben Wheatly is poised to win with his band Glory Dogs – Springsteen wannabes down to their hats. For the first time in his life, Will finds he is uniquely suited to not only participate in something, but to truly make a difference.
Just a reminder everyone, Friday Night Lights season 3 comes out on DVD this Tuesday, so be sure to pick your copy up if you haven’t already pre-ordered it! Also, Amazon has a season 1 and 2 value pack available Tueday, both seasons for $27.99!!!
Currently, Taylor Kitsch is at The Bang Bang Club photocall at Terrazza Martini, Gray D’Albion Beach during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (May 16) in Cannes, France.
The 28-year-old actor was joined by director Steven Silver, producer Patrice Theroux, and costars Malin Akerman and Ryan Phillippe. The Bang Bang Club is a drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa. The film is based on a book of the same name, released after the Time article, which was written by two members of the titular club. Kitsch will play Pulitzer Prize-winning, drug-addled photojournalist Kevin Carter.
The project has just wrapped principal photography and is currently in post-production. Bang Bang Club is due for release next year.
I was watching last night’s two-part season finale of Grey’s Anatomy when, to my surprise, I see our beloved Zach Gilford! He plays a patient who comes into the hospital requesting his leg be removed in order for him to return to Iraq. I was absolutely delighted to see him!
Minka Kelly has been the latest addition to the cast of “The Roommate” alongside Gossip Girl cutie, Leighton Meester and Twilighter Cam Gigandet.
“The Roommate” is a psychological thriller about a deranged college freshman, Rebecca (Meester), who becomes dangerously obsessed with her new roommate, Sara (Kelly).
Kelly (“Friday Night Lights”) recently wrapped “Body Politic,” a pilot for the CW, and next appears in Fox Searchlight’s romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer.”
I know the question on most of your minds right now must be who’s going and who’s staying! News is that Tyra and Lyla will only be back for a few episodes however, things are looking better with Tim, despite the huge success of his movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine!
Question: Have you heard anything about Friday Night Lights’ plans for the next year, and which castmembers are coming back? Hoping I haven’t seen the last of Tim Riggins. –Diana
Ausiello: You haven’t seen the last of Tim. I’m told Taylor Kitsch is definitely returning for season 4.
