Could There Be a ‘Friday Night Lights’ Reunion? What Zach Gilford Would Need to Say Yes

Meredith Jacobs August 2, 2024, 9:45 am

Zach Gilford for 'Friday Night Lights' — Paul Drinkwater / © NBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Right now, we’re seeing Zach Gilford play serial killer Elias Voit on Criminal Minds: Evolution. But over Friday Night Lights‘ five-season run (2006-2011), he was the sweet Matt Saracen, a member of the Dillon Panthers. When Gilford recently stopped by TV Insider to talk about the Paramount+ drama’s Season 17 finale, we had to ask him about his time on the football series—and if the cast would ever do a reunion, of course.

“I think everyone would be totally down to do it if it made sense. The spirit of that show, I think what elevated it was sort of the authenticity of it,” he said. “And if it clearly was just, let’s get the band back together, it would seem cheesy and contrived and that’s not that show. If there was some story that made sense—I don’t know, I’m not pitching anything here. Well, if someone died, we’re all back in Dillon, that’s dumb. I’m not a writer anyway. But we all love each other. We’re all friends.”

The sports drama followed a high school football team in the fictional town of Dillon, a small, close-knit community in rural West Texas. Its ensemble cast included, in addition to Gilford, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Gaius Charles, Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, Scott Porter, Aimee Teegarden, Michael B. Jordan, and Matt Lauria.

Looking back on Friday Night Lights, “it’s a show that I did that’s not about football and it was super fun. It seemed to have resonated with people. I’m very proud of it. As an actor, you’re always lucky to have a job that A, you’re proud of, B was a great experience, and C, people really liked, and I think Friday Night Lights really was that,” he shared. “I’m still super close with most of the cast and yeah, it was a great life experience.”