The Perfect Friday Night Lights Crossover Characters For FNL’s Reboot

Friday Night Lights has been lauded as one of the best television shows of the early 2000’s, which has contributed to frequent talks of reboots, spin-offs, sequel films, and revivals. Producer Brian Grazer had great news for fans of the show late last year when he announced that he was producing a Friday Night Lights film and television series to reboot the beloved series. But with more than a decade having passed since the original series ended, and because Grazer has stated the new series will take place in another Texas town, the likelihood of seeing characters return from the original series may be unlikely. But fans of the Dillon Panthers and East Dillon Lions could still be rewarded with cameos by their long-time favorites, even if the setting has changed.

Friday Night Lights was loosely based on the 2004 film of the same name, written and directed by the series’ creator, Peter Berg, who also played Tami Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Mo McArnold in the season 2 finale, “May the Best Man Win.” The film, which featured Connie Britton, who would later play Tami Taylor in the series, was based on the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream, which was written by Berg’s second cousin, H.G. Bissinger. And while the film followed the story portrayed in the book fairly closely, the television series focused on a different team, with a different coach, in a different time and town.

Following Grazer’s announcement on the reboot, it appears that the newest installment in the franchise will do the same thing, jumping forward in time and focusing on a different coach, team, and town. But that doesn’t mean that some of the familiar faces from the Kyle Chandler and Britton-led original series couldn’t appear, creating a realistic continuity within the franchise. The real focus of all the Friday Night Lights properties has been the obsessive and sometimes toxic atmosphere that surrounds many Texas high school football teams, and changing the location of the newest series makes a lot of sense. Moving the series to a different location makes the likelihood of seeing familiar characters less likely, but not impossible. There are several characters that could easily make appearances in a logical, organic way, especially in a guest star-type appearance, with one in particular poised to play a major role, should the showrunners choose to embrace it.

Buddy Garrity

Buddy Garrity, portrayed by Brad Leland, was Lyla’s dad, a car salesman and bar owner, Dillon Panther alumni, and an over-enthusiastic athletic booster. Even after Minka Kelly, who played Lyla, left the show, Buddy remained a huge part of Friday Night Lights. Buddy frequently showed a tendency to bend the high school recruiting rules throughout the original Friday Night Lights series. It isn’t difficult to imagine Garrity driving to a new town to try to woo a star player away, and the reward for fans would be equal to the important conversation about athletic recruitment of minors and the way those rules are often flaunted. But Buddy Garrity isn’t all bad, and there’s also the possibility that his connection to Santiago Herrera, the homeless Latino teenager he took in during season 2 could also tie him to the border town in some way, which would allow the “love-to-hate” character a chance to appear in a positive way.

Jason Street

Another character that could easily make a guest appearance is Jason Street, based on the real-life player David Edwards. Street, who was played by Scott Porter, was paralyzed from the chest down due to a spinal injury he suffered during the first game in Friday Night Lights Season 1. Later in the series, he became a sports agent and moved to New York. He appeared as a guest-star in season 5, trying to talk Coach Taylor into taking a college coaching position that was available. It isn’t a stretch of the imagination that Street could turn his career in agenting into that of a college recruiter, which could easily lead to cameo appearances as he attempts to convince players to sign with his team.

Tim Riggins

The character that viewers are most likely to want to see is Tim Riggins, played by Taylor Kitsch, who perfectly walked a tightrope between male vulnerability and childish lashing out throughout much of the series. It is Riggins who could easily play the biggest role in the Friday Night Lights reboot, namely because of his motto, “Texas Forever.” While many of the characters of the original series, including the Taylors, Matt Saracen, Jason Street, and Lyla Garrity left Texas for jobs and schooling, Tim Riggins always intended to stay in Texas for life. Even when he talked about moving to Alaska to work on an oil rig, he was drawn back to Texas. The likelihood that he would still be in the area, possibly coaching or even as a player’s father, is high, making the likelihood of his appearing far more organic than some other characters.

Jess Merriweather

Jess Merriweather, a season 4 addition to the Friday Night Lights cast, could prove to be the most interesting and involved of the original series characters in the reboot. Originally introduced as a love interest for Landry, and then star running back Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan), Jess became more involved in football than any other female character as the show progressed. She had a complicated relationship with football, due to her father’s star turn as a quarterback in his youth and eventual hatred for the game. She and her father are won over by Coach Taylor, and eventually, Jess admits that her dream is to become a football coach. Taylor helps her, allowing her to shadow him and serve as a student assistant, and when she and her family move to Dallas, he helps her find a position with a team in the city so she can continue on her trajectory. Of all the characters that appeared throughout Friday Night Lights, Jess Merriweather could be the one who plays the biggest role in a reboot, either as a coach of the team that the show focuses on, or as an opposing coach.

Whatever happens with the Friday Night Lights reboot, it is clear that the show will need to recapture the magic of the original, which includes fully fleshed out characters who face real issues, not always in the best way. A strong-minded coach with a love of football and the desire to shape their players into good people, not just good players, is critical to the success of the reboot. And capturing the strangely intense communal feelings for football in Texas is absolutely crucial to the tone of the show. By bringing back some of the characters from the original, the Friday Night Lights reboot could connect the two teams, at least in a nostalgic way that viewers of the original can appreciate without detriment to the new series.