‘All American: Homecoming’ Star Rhoyle Ivy King On Nate’s Season 3 Journey, Creating Complex Queer Characters & Saying Goodbye To CW Series
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Monday’s episode of All American: Homecoming.
As All American: Homecoming approaches the midway point of its final season, the writers are not taking their foot off the brake.
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Monday’s episode saw Simone [Geffri Maya] continue to cope with her cancer diagnosis as all her friends try to support her through it, even when they disagree with some of her decisions. Nate [Rhoyle Ivy King] has an especially hard time not voicing her thoughts about how Simone is handling her treatment plan and finds advice in a bit of an unlikely place after reconnecting with her cousin Val.
Nate had cut off communication with Val after she shared a hurtful social media post when Nate was young. Nate takes the opportunity to explain why Val’s action hurt her so much and hear Val’s side of the story, which brings them closer together once Nate realizes that Val has significantly changed her perspective since then.
Things hit a bit of a snag when Nate finds out Val is the defense attorney for the men who assaulted Ezra and damaged his wheelchair. She confronts Val, who says that she doesn’t have much of a choice as a junior attorney, and reminds Nate that she doesn’t always have to see eye-to-eye with her loved ones to continue supporting them — which serves as a wake up call for her views on Simone’s cancer as well.
In the interview below, King spoke with Deadline about Nate’s Episode 6 arc, developing a complex nonbinary character over the past three seasons, and saying goodbye to this role.
DEADLINE: What was your initial reaction to this episode’s storyline when you read the script?
RHOYLE IVY KING: I distinctly remember reading this script. We get the scripts randomly throughout the day, maybe a few days before we start the episode. I was getting ready to leave, waiting in the garage, sitting in my car, reading it, and honestly got teary eyed, because it all came from a conversation that NK and I had back in November…on what representation means. All through Season 1 and Season 2, I was always saying, really for myself, Nate was just a person who so happened to be queer, but that wasn’t the entirety of her story, which is beautiful. But I was telling NK about the emails that I was receiving from from parents and from teenagers, about people in their lives that seem like they’re kind of like Nate, and they don’t know what to do, and they don’t know how to how to bring it up or talk about it or let them know that they love them. So I told NK, ‘I think it would be really cool to actually emphasize her experience, emphasize the life change that she made.’ So I feel like to see the conversation that NK and I had translate into a script, it made me very emotional, because for me, I was like, that is what a good showrunner, a good leader does. They hear what someone is saying, and they do their best to apply that. I think she did such a beautiful job.
DEADLINE: My next question was going to be about your own involvement in the development of your character, but I think that story illustrates that point so well.
KING: Along with that conversation, we also talked about listening to what non binary voices have to say. think specifically during the strikes, I had my eyes and ears to the streets, and one of the things I had really noticed that what nonbinary voices were voicing, was that they were so frustrated with the stereotype of of canceling people. There were videos that were going viral about like, someone going to a restaurant and misgendering them and putting them on blast and putting the restaurant on blast. Nonbinary people were like, ‘That’s not what we’re seeking out to do.’ So that’s kind of where part of the the idea of Nate’s cousin messing up was also…the part where she says, ‘I’m not expecting you to be perfect. I’m just expecting you to love me, so you’ll try.’ That’s really where that comes from, is the idea of like, ‘No, you will mess up. That’s absolutely okay. All I need to know is that you love me and that you’re trying.’
DEADLINE: Well, this episode also turned into a learning lesson for Nate. Can you talk about what Nate took away from that conversation that she brought into her relationship with Simone?
KING: I really think Val reminded Nate that perspective is everything, and that your perspective on a situation, as valid as it is, it is not the end-all-be-all. Sometimes, you really do have to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and try to see it from their experience and the challenge that they have tackling this, and lead with that direction. From the conversation they had, she then approaches Simone with a thing of like, ‘Look, I don’t need to be telling you what to do. The emphasis I need to be making is that I’m here for you, whether you have a good day or a bad day. On days that are easy, or when you’re really going through it, that I’m just here for you regardless.’ So I think Val reminded her of that. I think a lot of times when we’re going through things, we don’t always need someone to be telling us or giving us advice every step of the way. Sometimes we just need somebody to sit there with us and just say, ‘Hey, I got you no matter what you do.’
DEADLINE: The writers on this show are not afraid for their characters to mess up or be in the wrong, instead allowing them to make mistakes and take accountability. I feel like that’s very evident in this situation, as with many others across All American and Homecoming.
KING: Season 1 especially, I really struggled with that concept. I felt like a lot of the choices that I would make, I would actually be limiting myself, because I always wanted people to like her. It really wasn’t for me to try to persuade people on how they feel about nonbinary people or queer people in general. That’s just not something that I’m actually able to do, is change someone’s mind. But I do feel like storytelling has this unique ability to touch people’s empathy, and so at the end of the day, my goal was always to be like, despite how you feel, you can at least look at her and say, ‘I wish I had a friend like that.’ So I think at the beginning, my goal was always to make her likable, but in that same note, that isn’t an honest representation of a human.
I think there are a lot of moments this season where [what] Nate does, and I’m like, ‘Girl, I don’t agree with you,’ but that’s the developmental aspect of who we are as people, and especially in those college years. You do make mistakes, and you do have choices that aren’t necessarily the right thing to do, but it’s through experience that you’ll learn, and it’s through experience that we’re even able to look at those choices and go, ‘That was good or bad.’ So I think, as an actor, finally letting go of the idea of making her likable and making sure that she’s always perfect, we were able to really let her humanity grow and let her make mistakes, because at the end of the day…queer people are allowed to have those same hiccups that everyone else does.
DEADLINE: Nate gets some advice from Lando in this episode. I appreciated that they both remark about how he might not be the natural person she’d seek advice from, but it also goes to show how much Nate’s circle has expanded over the past two and a half seasons. Was that new perspective what she needed?
KING: When I first read the script that was like, ‘Lando? Not JR?’ But it’s really cool, because, well, Martin [Bobb-Semple] is my buddy. We hung out a lot this season. So what I actually found interesting, especially in that scene where we’re sitting in the hallway, and we’re talking…that’s actually very similar to how me and Martin communicate as people. We would spend a lot of time when we weren’t on screen or on set, sitting in trailers and just talking about things. So I feel like a lot of the the authenticity of those moments, and a lot of the the inspiration, really came from me and Martin’s friendship blooming this season.
I think it was really cool to then watch how that would play out in our actual characters. It’s honestly just a reflection of who we are as people. I would always talk to NK, and even the cast, about how me, just like Nate — it was always very easy for us to have friends that are girls. That came very naturally. It was always the relationships with men in our lives that were very interesting. So I think what’s really cool is not only have me and my male cast mates gotten very, very close, but then to watch how the writers would allow Nate and her male friends to get very close, I think that’s really, really cool, because that, to me, is more so showing the world as it should be.
DEADLINE: It seems like there’s a level of care taken to ensure that the show isn’t trying to speak for all queer people or view them as a monolith.
KING: honestly, all flowers to me in that regard go to NK, because she made it her mission from the pilot all the way to the end to always be listening. Anytime that I would read a script, and I would call and talk to her about it, or even Marqui [Jackson] or any of the writers, sometimes that same night, a new draft would go out. They were always listening and always going like, ‘No, you lead the way, because it’s our responsibility collectively to make sure that we’re representing nonbinary people as authentically as possible.’ So I think it’s really all flowers to her leadership and her having that beautiful discernment to orchestrate the correct people and bring them together to create something really, really cool and truthful.
DEADLINE: What was your reaction to Homecoming coming to an end?
KING: I remember when I, when I got the call, I just had to sit there and in silence for a moment. I will be honest with you, with how the industry was shifting…I can’t fully say that it felt completely out of nowhere. We really got that call, even for a Season 2 renewal, very late into June. So I will even say that part of me, going into this season, had this feeling that it could be our last season. I felt like I really approached it as a gift to to ourselves and to the fans. Although this might be a weird word, in a way, kind of like an encore to something. I say that because I came up from a theater background, and the encore of the show would almost make everything slow down, where you would really absorb the audience and your cast mates on stage, and the crew, especially in that final performance.
So I felt like the whole season had that kind of play to it, where every day I would come to set, not really rushing to get on and get off, but taking my time and just absorbing everything. I would say with Nate, there are so many things that she taught me through this process, especially when it comes to advocating and finding my voice to speak about things. I probably had it easier this time around. Not everyone gets blessed with an incredible showrunner, and it’s such an accepting cast where they just welcome you in with open arms. So I would say that she really taught me to find my voice and how to advocate. She allowed me to create this beautiful relationship with these incredible human beings.
DEADLINE: What are you most looking forward to about the rest of these episodes, both with regard to Nate’s story as well as the whole show?
KING: She’s getting ready to learn a very valuable lesson. It’s a lesson that I remember, that I struggle with. I can say this because we’ve kind of talked about it in other things before. It is the challenge of finding that line between business and personal when it comes to the people that you love. It’s a very tricky gray area to navigate, and so I think that’s something that I’m really looking forward to people seeing, because it’s something that I think we all have to learn eventually. I would say for this show in general, I’m really excited for people to see the amount of twists and turns that the rest of this season is going to take. I think that’s the best way I can word it without giving anything away. Things are about to ramp up very, very quickly on its ways to the finale.
All American: Homecoming airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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