Mike Merrill Joins the CW’s ‘All American’; ‘Walker’ Casts Chris Labadie

Mike Merrill (American Soul) is set for a recurring role on the third season of the CW’s All American. Season 2 found Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), now a football state champion, with a tough decision to make. Does he stay in Beverly Hills and play for Coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs)? Or does he move back home to South L.A., reunite with his mother, Grace (Karimah Westbrook), brother, Dillon (Jalyn Hall), and play for his father, Corey (Chad Coleman), the new head coach for the South Crenshaw Chargers? Merrill will play Christian Mosley, a young, hungry talent director who is J.P Keating’s protege in the sports drama. Merrill’s previous credits include the BET series, American Soul as Maceo Parker, Tyler Perry’s The Haves and Have Nots, and the role of Manny in BET’s The Bobby Brown Story. All American Season 3 premieres on January 18. Merrill is repped by CGEM Talent and STW Talent.

Chris Labadie has booked a recurring role opposite Jared Padalecki on Walker, the CW’s Walker, Texas Ranger reboot from Rideback and CBS Studios. Like the original series, created by Albert S. Ruddy & Leslie Greif, the reboot, in which Walker is getting a female partner, will explore morality, family and rediscovering our lost common ground. It centers on Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. Labadie will play Jordan, a hardened, tough ex-con who is in the Green Thumb and Grace program – and he’s also involved in a heroin smuggling operation. He’s a smarmy guy who knows how to get under Walker’s skin. Labadie was most recently seen as the lead in short Nightmare Smile for HookedTV. He is repped by Arts & Letters Entertainment.

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