Ahead of returning to The CW’s All American, Bre-Z knew that her character needed a fresh start.

Since the beginning, fans have had an affinity to her character Tamia Cooper, also known as Coop, who is the best friend to former show lead and the person the series is centered on, Spencer James (Daniel Ezra).

What does a new chapter look like for Coop?

“I felt like it was time for a change. I was tired of, you know, I felt like Coop had been through enough,” Bre-Z told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “We did enough of the gang banging. We did enough of being in the street. Even for the audience, it was time to take those little guys and girls of that generation who were looking up to Coop, who grew up in similar areas; it was time to show them something different and kind of lead them in a different direction, if they were watching for that reason.”

“So to study law, as we all know, is this very serious thing. You don’t get in and out of law school in a year. You’re not able to BS your way through law school. It requires a certain level of diligence — a certain level of discipline and attention,” she continued. “I was excited. I’m glad to do something different, and I wanted to take that armor off of always being on the defense about everything in life because of what I had been through and what my experience was. I was finally ready to just be free of that and determine and discuss with our writers and our showrunner, what does the next phase of her life look like?”

A second chance is not off the table

As her character evolves beyond her past, Bre-Z said it is essential for those watching to understand that their circumstances do not anchor them.

“The choice is still yours, but even more yours now than it’s ever been,” Bre-Z said. “Coop just had to make the choice and say to herself, ‘I want to be better. I want to do better, and I want to do more.’ And I think the moment she told herself that and truly put that at the forefront of her mind, we saw a difference in Coop. We see a difference in how she interacts with her friends who have been there since day one, and what she chooses to allow and accept in her intimate relationships. What is it that she knows needs to be in alignment for her to move forward in the way that she wants to? The message would be that the second chance isn’t off the table, but the choices are always yours.”

She added, “Everything is a choice. Whether you are running the streets, in toxic relationships, sitting on your butt, not doing nothing, or waiting on somebody, the choice is always yours. I hope that this season, our viewers are able to watch Coop and see that she made a choice and got a different result, and that’s all it took.”

Reuniting with other OG ‘All American’ cast members

Coop isn’t the only All American original character to return for the show’s seventh season. As previously reported by Blavity, Michael Evans Behling has reprised his role as Jordan Baker, who is now married to Layla Baker (née Keating, played by Greta Onieogou).

As the new adults in the series, they’re a long way from their high school years, navigating the growing pains of stepping into true adulthood. Still, Bre-Z said the journey of blending original cast members with newcomers has been amazing.

“I’m going to be honest, these kids, not even gonna say kids because they’re young adults, but they have been so full of life and diligent and disciplined, and they have taken the craft so seriously. They didn’t come to set and play in our faces, if you will. They came ready to work. Ready to be collaborative,” she said.

Bre-Z concluded, “Of course, we miss having a part of our core crew around, but this crew is just as important. Myself, Greta, Michael, Kareem [Grimes], who plays Preach, he’s such an OG, like I’m super happy to have him on my side in the midst of not having Daniel and not having any of the representation or part of the village that I had coming up since the beginning of the series. I think that the OGs have handled it very well, and I’m happy to see Layla’s character grow into the woman she is and the wife she wanted to be — the same with Jordan. And Preach is doing something different with his life based on, you know, he has a daughter. He’s always had a daughter, but she’s grown now, and she’s going to ask more questions. She’s a part of this new generation. So the way we’ve all handled that has just been beautiful. Our showrunner is proud. Our writers are proud, and I am, personally, just proud of all of us. Everybody stepped up, and it was like nothing had ever happened. It was like no one went missing.”

All American airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Rapsody brings a flawless performance to NPR's Tiny Desk Concert

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week