Note: This story contains spoilers from the Season 8 finale of “All American.”

It’s hard to find a series sendoff that’s sweeter than “All American.” After eight seasons spent detailing the sacrifices, drama and loyalty that come with following a high school star athlete to the Super Bowl, the CW show concluded in a way that gave both its original and newer, younger characters their own happy ending.

Fittingly directed by the series’ longtime star Daniel Ezra and written by Nkechi Okoro Carroll and Jameal Turner, “To Live and Die in L.A.” is a sendoff that celebrates the love and kindness that’s also been baked into this series. But it also officially marks the end of an era. “All American” was the last remaining scripted CW show before the network was acquired by Nexstar and shifted its strategy from being a hub for young adult content into a more mainstream platform. The importance and love of shows like “Dawson’s Creek” was baked into “All American” from the beginning.

“At the end of the day, these friendships, family bonds and dreams matter, and helping each other get there matters. That’s something that TV has done for me my whole life,” executive producer Carroll told TheWrap. “My whole life, it has been the thing that allowed me to dream. It is the thing that allowed me to hope. It is the thing that made me realize love really can win. And so I want to contribute to being that for the next generation.”

That hopeful message is entwined into the legacy of “All American,” even as young adult shows as a whole transition from The CW to other platforms like Prime Video. Here’s how that final episode came to be and why Carroll always knew how she wanted this heartfelt football drama to end. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

TheWrap: The finale is such a loving sendoff to these characters. Did you always know you wanted to end the series this way?

Nkechi Okoro Carroll: Yes. After all the drama they’ve been through in their lives, there was no version of them not reaching their goals or achieving their dreams. Especially for our OG cast, I have known for a while what I wanted the endpoint to be for their characters.

Then for our new generation cast, it was really more about giving them that big push off into the first steps of them realizing their dreams. For example, I knew that we were always going to reunite the Jeremy family. I knew KJ (Nathaniel Logan McIntyre) would always make it to the NFL. I knew that for Khalil (Antonio J. Bell), football was never endgame, that football would be the thing that got him to college to get him to his endgame [of going to medical school]. I always knew Amina (Alexis Chikaeze) would end up a fighter. The actual specifics of what that looked like — Khalil going to med school, Amina going into politics and being one of the youngest campaign managers to run a winning campaign with her and her father becoming the new activists and advocates for their community — that started to really materialize over the last couple seasons.

With Olivia (Samantha Logan) and the twins, it was very important to me that Kahlil be the one to save their lives because the Bakers had pretty much saved his, and that would be important to him to repay it. We all have that moment where something happened in our lives that just unlocked something. For me, it was when I was introduced to Shakespeare in seventh grade. You have that moment where something just gets unlocked, and you’re like, “Yep, I know what I’m supposed to do. I know what I’m here for.” We wanted to be able to see that moment with Kahlil since we knew football wasn’t his endgame.

For the rest of the characters, a lot of them we’ve known for seasons. It’s why we had the time capsules in Season 4, which hinted at what those futures were going to look like. Spencer (Daniel Ezra) was always going to go to the NFL, but not just the NFL. We were going to see him complete his dream and move into the next chapter of his life, not unlike what Spencer Paysinger did in real life. For Layla (Greta Onieogou), I knew that journey was always going to come full circle to her being a mother. For Jordan (Michael Evans Behling), it was always going to come full circle around to [his late father] Billy’s legacy.

For Coop (Bre-Z), the minute we decided on the law track for Coop in the middle of our run while they were in high school and she started working with Laura Baker (Monet Mazur), I knew this was going to be her endpoint. I knew we were going to end on her being sworn in, in some capacity. If we were so lucky to live past that day, ultimately we were going to see her opening her firm. So we knew the north star we were always heading towards for these characters. It was just a question of “OK, how do we get them there?”

I especially love Kahlil’s storyline. I went to college at Clemson, and I had several football players in my classes. There were a lot of players who knew that this was the end of the road for their football career but they were really excited to be studying engineering or whatever.

It’s part of the football story. It’s not always about football being the thing that gets them to stardom. Sometimes it’s about football being the pathway to a future, whatever that future is. It’s the thing that got them into college. It’s the thing that got them to perform differently. It’s the thing that opened up opportunities for them. It felt like that was as important to show as it was to show the Spencers and the KJs who make it to that big Super Bowl stage and have these successful careers. Football is also a pathway to other success.

Dania Ezra came back to direct this finale. What was it like having him back to close out the series?

It was a no brainer. The only way that was not going to happen was if he was not able to make it work schedule wise. To his credit, when I called him right after we got the Season 8 pickup to ask him to direct the finale, he was like, “I’d be honored to direct anything, but the series finale” — like he was just he was so excited. Then, shortly after that, he booked a series regular role on a new show shooting elsewhere. I was like, “We just lost him, we’re done.” But he made [the finale] part of his negotiations. He was like, “It’s important to me,” and they made it work. Kudos to the other production, the line producer and the executive producers for all being so amazing and working with us so that we could have him back for that finale in the middle of their season.

This is the fifth episode Daniel Ezra has directed. How has it been for you to watch him evolve into someone leading the charge, and how have you seen him evolve as a director?

Oh, he’s incredible. It’s obnoxious, actually, and I’m going on record as saying it’s obnoxious. He has a real gift, and I saw it in him before he ever asked to direct an episode, which is why it was a no-brainer the first time. He was like, “I think I might want to try direct.” I was like, “Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to ask because it’s so clearly in you.”

It was really a thing of his confidence, because he’d never done it before, building with each episode he directed, and he truly brought it home in this series finale. When he was pitching how he wanted to shoot the hospital scenes when everyone comes rushing into Olivia’s room and seeing him and the DP have their heads together as they’re talking about how they want to move the Steadicam through the room to mimic the urgency of what Olivia’s going through, I was literally like a proud big sister … It was not just about making sure he captured the essence of the show, but he wanted to elevate things in certain areas. I’m super proud. He’s he’s tremendously talented, and I think we will see him direct a lot in the future.

What about you? What projects do you have lined up? Is there anything you want to pursue now that “All American” is coming to an end?

I have a project that is in development right now with Onyx Collective at Hulu that I’m super excited about. I have a feature that I sold to Amazon that I’m in the process of writing and a couple other shows I’m getting ready to take out to pitch, so I’m excited. I’ve been incredibly blessed in this industry to have had the “All American” universe, and now I’m excited to find what’s next. But what will be at the heart of all of those projects is a story that reaches out and hopefully touches you the way it touched me enough to want to write it.

There’s always been a throughline of genuine kindness in “All American.” These characters, you could tell that they love each other. It does feel there has been a resurgence of kind stories on TV. Why do you think that is?

I can say why I need it, and it is the thing that allows me to get out of bed in the morning. I said in an interview once that I firmly believe that God gives us all a weapon to use for good, to make the world a better place. The weapon He happened to give me was my keyboard. And so, the tougher times get out there, the more I want to put on TV and in people’s homes something that reminds them that, at the end of the day, love wins. We are friends, we are neighbors, we are family, we are humankind, and we can lead with love and compassion, and there’s forgiveness. I’m not saying people don’t make mistakes. I’m not saying there’s not fights. I’m not saying there’s not drama, but there is always a path to the other side of it.

If showing that on TV helps remind people of that or maybe even just alters for a second how someone responds to a situation where all of a sudden they’re like, “Wait, I can’t have that conversation with that person I haven’t talked to for forever because I’m holding on to something I shouldn’t be” — if I can even make that incremental difference, then those moments add up.

I know you mentioned that if the show were to continue, we’d see more of Coop’s legal practice. What other plot lines may have happened if you’re given a ninth season?

If we’ve been given a ninth season, I would have not had to leap forward six years, so I would have filled in a little bit more of that time — actually see Jordan and Layla become parents, things like that. I would have seen the new generation step into college and Spencer and Olivia being parents and what that looks like as they’re juggling their careers and relationship in this new chapter of their life as a married couple with newborns. You know, the continuation of the story that is “All American.” And at the heart of it would have continued to be a foundation of the underpinnings of this football world and the legacy its left in in all of their lives.