All American season 7 is coming just not in 2024

There’s some good news for All American fans. The series is coming back.

One of just four pre-Nexstar shows to still be on The CW, there have been some concerns about the future. Superman & Lois was given a final season order for Season 4, while Walker will abruptly end with its fourth season later this month.

Fans of All American feared the worst for their show. The series may be the top-rated series of the network, but it is still relatively expensive. Would Nexstar decide that it wasn’t performing well enough as it tries to balance the books?

All American Season 7 will be a shortened season

The good news is The CW has renewed the series. All American Season 7 is officially happening. TVLine reports that the season will have 13 episodes, making it the shortest season to date. Up to this point, the shortest season has been 16 episodes.

This could be a cause for concern. It means that Nexstar isn’t willing to pay more for the series. A reduced episode count means spending less money. With the series costing around $1 million per episode, it’s important for Nexstar to find a way to keep the costs down.

Usually when a series gets a shorter season order, it means the end is near. We can look at Walker and Nancy Drew as examples of that. Fans may be happy as long as All American ends with all storylines being closed up. Of course, the only logical end for Spencer is that he makes it big in the NFL.

All American Season 7 won’t premiere in 2024

There is more bad news. As The CW noted with its fall schedule, this isn’t a series that will arrive in the fall. The show was bumped to the midseason this year due to the strike action, and that has led to a delay in the renewal, which means a delay in the writing and production of the season.

When announcing the renewal and episode count, TVLine also made it clear that the series would arrive in 2025. It’s not clear if that means the midseason or if it will be held for fall 2025. The CW may want to try to get this series back in the fall to give is a better chance at strong linear ratings.

A new wave of characters to the series

The season is set to bring in a new wave of characters. This is an attempt to “freshen up” the series, although fans of the series are loyal to the ones they’ve already come to know and love. It puts a risk of other storylines lacking to allow time for the development of new characters.

A lot of shows have made it to seven seasons and looked at revamping things. Just look at Once Upon a Time which brought in a new fairytale story and new versions of characters we’d already met. It messed up some of the stories fans had already come to love, and it led to the show’s cancellation just a year later.

The CW President of Entertainment, Brad Schwartz, has certainly hinted that the series will see some storylines come to a close in Season 6, opening up for new characters. Could we lose some characters after this season? That is plausible considering contracts will come up for renewal this year—the first contracts are usually for six seasons.

"[Co-showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll] has a bunch of stories to tell [in Season 6], and I think, naturally, some of those stories are coming to an end. We have Spencer going into the draft, there are some romantic chapters [that could] close… I think the natural storytelling is leading some of the very big arcs [to a possible conclusion]."