Fifteen years ago the Dillon Panthers reached in from the television screen and tugged on all of our heartstrings. This high school football team was so much more than just a bunch of players and a coaching staff. They were a family, thanks to Coach Eric Taylor who put his blood, sweat and tears into these boys. Many lacked a father figure or any mentor figure at all for that matter, so Coach Taylor stepped into that role model. With the help of his lovely wife, Tami Taylor, they became the ultimate dream team. Each and every character on the show made you feel something and that is why NBC's Friday Night Lights reached television domination.
The show ran from 2006 to 2011 and is still watched to this day. The TV drama is currently on Netflix because it has resonated with fans so much. You don't need to know a thing about football to fall in love with this series. However, you do need to understand how important the game is to the town of Dillon, Texas. Coach Taylor is like the original Ted Lasso and there's a reason why both these shows are such a massive success. You can even argue that All American is sort of a remake of FNL. It only feels right to check in on the rest of the cast to see where the Taylors and the rest of the Dillon Panthers are today?
11 Kyle Chandler As Coach Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor will forever be the first TV coach we fell for. Chandler won an Emmy for his work and this award was more than deserved. After the show ended, he was in multiple popular television shows and films, like Zero Dark Thirty, The Wolf of Wall Street, Manchester By The Sea, Godzilla, and television series like Bloodline, Catch-22, and Mayor of Kingstown.
10 Connie Britton As Tami Taylor
The wife of Coach Taylor and mother to daughter Julie was none other than Connie Britton. She brought a kindhearted southern comfort with a twist of tough-love wisdom to Tami. Britton jumped right into the role of Rayna Jaymes on ABC’s Nashville after her massive success on FNL. That show ran for six seasons and secured Connie as one of TV’s most beloved leading ladies. She then went on to star in the television series Dirty John, SMILF, and currently, HBO's hit series, The White Lotus.
9 Scott Porter As Jason Street
Jason Street wasn't the last we'd see of Mr. Scott Porter. Porter went straight to playing George Tucker on the CW's Hart of Dixie starring Rachel Bilson. More recently, Porter appeared on the hit Netflix original, Ginny & Georgia as the mayor of dreamy Wellsbury, Massachusetts.
8 Minka Kelly As Lyla Garrity
Minka has been more known for her celebrity dating pool than her acting career post-FNL. After dating Chris Evans, Derek Jeter, John Mayer, and Jesse Williams, she appeared briefly in the film (500) Days of Summer as well as Just Go With It and scared the heck out of us in The Roommate. Currently, Kelly portrays Dawn Granger/Dove on the HBO Max series Titans.
Her on-screen romance with bad boy Tim Riggins was a love story for the ages. She was the good girl who fell for her quarterback boyfriend's best friend. Can we really blame her?
7 Taylor Kitsch As Tim Riggins
Texas forever. Tim Riggins was the heart and soul of Dillon Panther football. He was the epitome of what it was like to love a game more than yourself. Even though he was a fictional character, the fans fell in love with Tim Riggins.
Taylor Kitsch went on to have a powerhouse of an acting career after the series wrapped. Kitsch was in the films Lone Survivor, Battleship, American Assassin, Savages, and 21 Bridges starring the late Chadwick Boseman. He was also the lead in the TV miniseries, Waco, which depicted the 1993 standoff between cult leader David Koresh and the FBI.
6 Gaius Charles As Smash Williams
Where is the all-star running back Smash Williams today? Gaius Charles put down the football and picked up a scalpel in 2012. His time on Grey's Anatomy was ultimately cut short when he left the show with Sandra Oh's character Dr. Christina Yang.
5 Aimee Teegarden As Julie Taylor
Aimee played the daughter of Eric and Tami Taylor. She got romantically involved with one of the star players, Matt Saracen, and her father was not too fond of the pairing. Eventually, he learned to love the two together and so did we!
Aimee starred in a sci-fi television drama alongside 90210's Matt Lanter called Star-Crossed. The CW show was canceled after one season due to low ratings. Now she is embracing her new name as a Hallmark Channel star. After appearing in multiple films, Once Upon A Christmas Miracle and A New Year’s Resolution, she may have found her niche.
4 Zach Gilford As Matt Saracen
Matt won over all our hearts as the shy boy who went from the backup quarterback to the star. Since his QB days, Zach Gilford was in NBC's Good Girls and co-starred in the film The Purge: Anarchy. This past year he starred in the Netflix horror limited series Midnight Mass.
3 Jesse Plemons As Landry Clarke
Plemons' career has skyrocketed since his breakout role as Matt Saracen's corny best friend. He was in Breaking Bad, Fargo, and the episode "USS Callister" of Black Mirror. He just recently played the villain, Prince Joachim, in Disney's adventure film Jungle Cruise.
2 Adrianne Palicki As Tyra Collette
Adrianne Palicki packed up her Dillon Panthers cheerleading uniform and moved on to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the sci-fi comedy-drama series The Orville.
1 Michael B. Jordan As Vince Howard
Last but certainly not least... Michael B. Jordan! There was once a time when he was just a small-town football player trying to make it big. After winning the state championship for the East Dillon Lions, Jordan played Erik Killmonger in Marvel's Black Panther alongside the late Chadwick Boseman. He also played Donnie Creed in 2015's Creed and then reprised that role in Creed II. He was nominated for an Emmy and was ranked #15 on The New York Times list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.
With all of these remarkable roles under his belt, it's hard to even remember a time when Michael B. Jordan was just a high school football player from Texas.
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