Jake Allyn of BET’s The Quad talks Season 2 and much more in exclusive interview
By Paul Zuniga
With Season 2 of The Quad currently airing on BET, interest in the series has piqued to amazing heights. So much so that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview Jake Allyn, one of the series’ leads.
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On The Quad, Allyn portrays All-Star quarterback BoJohn Folsom. He plays for Georgia A&M University—or GAMU for short, a fictitious HBCU. But BoJohn isn’t just a quarterback. He’s also a very intriguing character in general.
To quickly recap: Before attending GAMU, BoJohn had lots of offers from schools for his potential contribution to their football programs. Being the star quarterback, of course BoJohn had lots of options. But because of a disagreement between BoJohn and his old coach, he got blacklisted, losing his chance to attend the school he wanted. As a result, BoJohn had to go with the only school that would take him in, GAMU.
Fortunately, BoJohn (Allyn) has found a home and family at GAMU, one that Bo cherishes deeply. The bad news is that Bo’s future isn’t filled with all sunshine and rainbows. He’s going to have a few trials ahead of him, some that’ll push the boundaries of his reserve—at least according to Allyn.
Jake Allyn talks Bo’s problems on BET’s The Quad
During our interview with Allyn, we talked about how Bo’s issues will resurface in the coming episodes. Issues that mainly have to do with his upbringing. For more insight into that aspect of his character, Allyn provided us with the following tidbit:
"“In Season 1, Bo’s problems with how he was raised came up briefly. We only saw the beginning of how strained Bo’s relationship with his father was / is, but in Season 2, we’ll see how that strained relationship affects Bo moving forward. Because of that, Bo’s anger problems will resurface, specifically in Episode 10.”"
Apparently, Bo isn’t going to remain so level headed in the upcoming episodes. I mean, he hasn’t had many outbursts since his arrival to GAMU so he’s definitely matured. However, Bo’s anger might resurface in a way that backfires horribly. We’ve seen that he becomes physical when angered, so it’s probably a fair to assume Bo is going to lash out at someone close to him—possibly a coach or close friend. There is good news though.
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In our interview with Allyn, he also revealed that Bo is going to do whatever it takes to stay at GAMU. Allyn spoke about how Bo struggled for so long and lost so many opportunities along the way that he’s not going to let this one go to waste. Here’s what Allyn had to say about Bo’s future at GAMU:
"After Bo gets into that big fight with his coach and gets arrested, things go sideways. He thought he might be going to USC or University of Texas the following year but that doesn’t happen. Instead, he winds up stuck in the same place for a whole year. When Bo gets his second chance, at GAMU, he does everything in his power to keep it from being taken away. So yes, Bo is gonna stay at GAMU. He’s not going to risk what he has. His past experiences have taught him enough and he knows that it can all be taken away in an instant, giving him a reason to not take it for granted. This helps him move past those experiences but also makes him a bit nervous, too."
Just from that, it’s pretty obvious Bo is going to stay at GAMU for the foreseeable future. Bo may take a leave of absence to deal with his emotional issues at some point but he’s definitely staying at the school. Even if Bo’s first choice school offered him a slot in their football program, he’d likely reject it. Of course, we can’t confirm that with a certainty when the writers of The Quad could decide to take Bo in an entirely different direction further down the line.
Bo’s part aside, Allyn was also quite enthusiastic about the entire experience in general. When we asked him about filming on The Quad, Allyn had nothing but positive things to say. He credited the show’s producers and complimented the actors:
"“Felicia Henderson, Rob Hardy, and all of The Quad’s producers did a really great job putting together an ensemble cast. They definitely did their due diligence in casting actors who would work well together. Each actor brought something new / great to the table and when everyone came together, we really created something amazing.”"
Jake Allyn comments on recent movie roles
After our discussion on The Quad ran its course, we asked Jake a few questions about Overexposed, a TV movie he worked on with his brother, Conor. Well, Jake acted in the movie while Conor wrote and directed it.
Overexposed’s plot follows a small town embroiled in sexting scandal, where murder and outrage are afoot. In it, Jake plays Jimmy Cowls, one of the people left reeling after the sexting scandal hits close to home. When we asked Jake to elaborate on the part, he had this to say:
"“My brother wanted me to play, Jimmy, the older brother to the kid (Taylor) using sex in his blackmail dealing. As Taylor’s brother, Jimmy is dealing with the fallout of the whole sexting scandal but he’s also grieving in an awkward way because his brother is dead.”"
According to Jake, his character is imbued with quite the task right off the bat. Between dealing with the grief of losing a brother and working damage control on the situation left behind by Taylor, Jimmy has a lot on his plate. Of course, the more difficult task is undoubtedly how Jimmy will handle being looked at as pariah of the town. His brother is the one accused of all the sex-mailing happenings after all, so there’s bound to be some bad blood between the townspeople and anyone related to Taylor Cowls.
What does the entertainment industry offer our country?
To close out our conversation, Jake took the time to acknowledge a very important benefit to independent filmmakers working on films like Overexposed. Here’s what he had to say about that aspect of the entertainment industry:
"“I’m glad that movies filming in the United States are developing rebate programs and taking those programs to different states. These programs provide jobs to the surrounding communities. So every time we go out to shoot, more jobs go to people in the surrounding areas. At the same time, young filmmakers who would’ve never had the chance to shoot a picture gain the opportunity to become cinematographers in the industry.”"
Without insinuating too much on Jake’s behalf, it sounds like he really knows his stuff. He understands that filming in the United States brings in jobs for states that really need it. Whether it’s for bit parts in the film, craft services, or general filming crew, the entertainment industry does bring in the jobs. And with so many TV shows and movies filming in the U.S., there’s plenty of jobs to go around. Film-making opportunities are another story.
In the entertainment industry, film-making opportunities are much harder to come by than practically everything else. Because studios and networks aren’t offering up contracts to whichever Joe-Schmo walks up off the street and asks for one, an aspiring film-maker has to work extremely hard. Both Jake and his brother, Conor know this very well and it shows in the work they’ve done together. That being said, young film-makers should take a cue from them and only produce what they can take pride in.
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For more on Jake Allyn, you can catch him in an upcoming episode of NCIS where he’ll guest star as Navy Officer, James Sweeney. But if you want to see more of Jake before then, he’s on BET’s The Quad every Tuesday.