Bre-Z Talks Representing ‘Black Women’ Across America

In all of them All American six seasons, Bre-Z watched his character, Coop, go from gangster to lawyer-in-training – and couldn’t be happier with how his story played out.

“I love you because these were the conversations we had inside,” said the actor, 37, telling himself. Us Weekly about Coop’s law school trip. “I wanted to see the Coop develop. I wanted to change the narrative and show the light inside to someone like me because that representation has a dark cloud over it. And a Black woman who introduces a man, nine times out of ten, will stay put and not progress. “

When All Americans premiered in 2018, Coop found himself on the streets after his parents kicked him out for being gay. He was later captured by a childhood friend of Shawn’s (Jay Reeves) gang in hopes of making enough money to survive on their own. When Shawn was shot for gang-related violence, Coop ended up spending his life pursuing music, before finding his passion in the law. The final two seasons of the CW series saw Coop study alongside Los Angeles County District Attorney Laura Baker (Monet Mazur) and is working his way through law school.

“I wanted to see [Coop] do something. Like, can he take something serious? Let’s show him that he’s putting his best foot forward,” said Bre-Z about bringing a change to Coop’s storylines. “Let’s show him to change his attitude, to change the way he thinks, to be encouraged and motivated by his peers. Let’s tell that story.”

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Bre-Z said the show’s participants Nkechi Okoro Carroll again Jameal Turner he came to terms with his vision of the character, and Coop’s future was re-evaluated. “All of us [stood] in collaboration with that,” he said, “and just telling stories that haven’t been told.”

For Bre-Z, the past few seasons of the teen drama have been about getting Coop out of his “teenage phase” and “giving him something to work for.” The actor said that doing the likes of Law Coop forces the actor to take his future more seriously than before.

“With something like the law, you have to know what you’re doing. You can’t fly under the radar,” he explained. “You can’t fail the test. You have no excuse. So this is something we should see some real work put into. “

Bre-Z noted that she hopes the pivot will help Coop become more popular on social media as she and the writers have seen comments saying Coop is an “annoying” character at times.

“We wanted to change his narrative because that’s how it happens, especially to black people,” he said Us. “So we wanted to make sure we did something good with him. I hope we can continue that for him. It has really helped me as a person.”

All Americans was renewed for a seventh season in June – although little is known about where the show is headed This is Daniel Ezra’s place out as a series regular, Bre-Z hopes that Coop will continue to appear in all aspects of his life, not just his career.

“I think the first shift was to get out of that street life that he was not protected from. I think in this next stage, I want to see him grow a little bit. I want to see him improve his emotional intelligence, I want to see his relationship and love life change and grow and I admire the determination he takes in his life,” he says, referring to Coop’s love affair with his girlfriend Patience, which is played. with Chelsea Tavares. “I want to see everything around him talking about that. I don’t want him to keep high school like a kid [mentality], like, ‘You’re my girlfriend, you’re not my girlfriend.’ I wish to see him take that importance of law in all areas of his life.”

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Bre-Z added that allowing that kind of representation on screen is very important, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community. “Seeing some growth in your partner, seeing your partner’s support,” he explained. “And for women who introduce men like me, see that so the mindset can start to change.”

She continued, “I have been a queen woman all my life; these things [like sexual identity] start very young. So being on TV playing a young actor, that’s where it starts. So let’s start there.”

All Americans is expected to return to The CW for season 7 in 2025.

With reporting by Travis Cronin.