I am so pumped right now!  Friday Night Lights is locked in for 2 more seasons!  I am so relieved.  We weren’t sure what would happen since they have been moving the show between NBC and Directv.

So, get the dish below on the future seasons, but if you don’t want to know anything about upcoming episodes of this season, don’t read on.  Major spoilers!!  William Keck from TV Guide talked to executive producer Jason Katims:

Not a bad day, eh?
Katims: Well, it’s a very good couple of hours. Before that, it was a lot of nail biting. I’m very excited and kind of blown away. It went down to the wire whether it was going to work.

Who did you call from the cast?
Katims: I spoke to Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor) and Aimee Teegarden (Julie) and left word for everybody else.

Based on how the season ended, who can you say will definitely be back?
Katims: The Taylor family (Chandler, Teegarden and Connie Britton as Tami)…Jesse Plemons’ character, Landry, is a senior, so he’ll be back, and I want to make sure everybody comes back in some way, whether or not they’ll be there for every episode. We set a nice precedent with that last year in our story arcs with Gaius Charles (Smash) and Scott Porter (Jason). Even though they weren’t there for the whole season, they definitely left their mark on Season Three in a big way. If we feel we can’t service all the characters for the whole season, we’ll want to find meaty arcs for them to play.

Last season you established a great adversary for Coach in Joe McCoy (D.W. Moffett). Please tell me this pick-up means we’ll see Coach get his revenge on Joe for his betrayal?
Katims: I think there is a natural rivalry that’s going to be set up between East Dillon High and Dillon. Exactly how we play that out, I don’t know yet. I’m really committed to the idea we left with, of Coach Taylor being moved to East Dillon High School. That suggests a really interesting place for us to go story-wise. It will be Friday Night Lights but gives us a fresh new pallet. We’ll be able to draw upon the characters we know and love – but meet new faces as well.

When the third season ended, Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) and Lyla (Minka Kelly) headed off to college, but Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) and Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) seemed like they were going to stay put in Dillon.
Katims: It’s hard to say how much of a commitment Tim will have to San Jose State without Lyla there. I think his brother Billy’s garage is going to look awfully appealing to him. Not everybody’s path in life is to graduate from high school, go to college and become a doctor or lawyer. And I definitely want to see the others around for at least part of the season.

Now you have the opportunity to cast a whole new set of hot students to fill the halls of East Dillon High.
Katims: Yes, exactly. The first thing would be to get our writing staff reassembled so that we know what kind of actors we’re looking for to play these new characters.

You’re also committed to overseeing the possible new NBC series, Parenthood (based on the 1989 film). How will you juggle both shows?
Katims: We’re still waiting to see if NBC orders Parenthood to series. Should that happen, I’m really committed to both shows. I’ll figure out a way to work it out. It might mean staggering some schedules. We have such an incredible team in Texas. It’s a very smooth running operation, so I have every confidence the show will continue to be everything it was in the past.

When do you start filming?
Katims: April 20. The plan is to shoot in either Berkeley or L.A. We have Peter Krause, Maura Tierney and Erika Christensen playing the kids of Craig T. Nelson.
Anything else you want to express?
Katims: Thank you to the fans. Their passion is largely why we are here today. This is a show that easily could have gone away any number of times. It’s nothing short of a miracle that this show is going to have a life of five seasons.

Sounds awesome, huh??  I love Friday Night Lights!  Thank you NBC for bringing it back!

Source: TV Guide

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