In Disney+’s latest series, The Crossover, the teenage intricacies of first love, drama, and aspiring stardom reign supreme on and off the court. Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling verse novel by Kwame Alexander, who also serves as the TV adaptation’s creator, EP, co-writer and co-showrunner, the series follows the lives of two teen brothers, Josh (Jalyn Hall) and Jordan Bell (Amir O’Neil) as they navigate life’s many uncertainties from boyhood to manhood. Though primarily focused on the boy’s relationship with basketball, a sport engrained in them at birth thanks to their former professional basketball-playing father (Derek Luke), the series unabashedly tackles serious issues regarding teenage rebellion, self-discovery, disability, and mental health challenges.
Hall told Deadline about the significance of being a part of a series that centers on two young Black male teens. “I believe that realistic and relatable coming-of-age stories are really important in today’s society, as they allow people, particularly teenagers, to connect with the world in a deeper way,” Hall said. “I also believe that having authentic and uplifting portrayals of Black kids onscreen is a huge step in the right direction; often, you don’t see that, but now with The Crossover, you can. Black kids all over the world can see themselves in these characters, and that’s a movement I’m happy to be a part of.”
O’Neil, whose character, Jordan, suffers from the effects of ADHD, also expressed the importance of embodying this role onscreen. “It is crucial to see our faces, Black faces, in a different light than we usually do. The Crossover represents family, love, loyalty, friendship and many other core values I hold close to my heart. I love how the show does a great job of attacking problems healthily and maturely. Problems such as mental health, ADHD, illnesses, young love, and drifting apart from the people you love. I recommend everyone to check out The Crossover because, I promise, it has something for everybody.”
Below, Alexander further discusses the importance of representation, his influential upbringing, and bringing his novel to life onscreen.
DEADLINE: Besides being an appropriate sports term for the show, what does The Crossover mean to you in usage as a vehicle for themes in the series?
KWAME ALEXANDER: A crossover is a move where a player dribbles the ball with one hand, and the defensive player looks at that ball, and then the player dribbles it quickly to their right hand. So, they’re trying to sort of throw the opponent off balance. Now if you’re really good, you do it to the other hand, but then you do it back to the other hand; it’s a double cross. So, it’s really to throw the opponent off balance and get around them. That’s the literal translation of what it means. When I was three years old, my father, who had been a basketball star in college in the Air Force, he was studying to get his doctorate in education at Columbia University. He would take me to the basketball court as a three-year-old to let me dribble and shoot.
One day, he asked me to shoot free throws. And for a three-year-old kid to shoot 12, 14 feet to the basket, there’s no way you’ll be able to get the ball that high. So, this playground supervisor came over, my dad tells me, and tried to lower the goal. And my dad was like, “Stop. No one’s going to lower my son’s goal.” And so, the idea was, my dad said, “He doesn’t know he can’t make the shot.” That’s always resonated with me; I view it as a metaphor for life. Never let other people try to lower your goals or your expectations. So, basketball, in general, and The Crossover, in particular, they’re metaphors for me with this story. How do you adapt to these things that are happening in your life that you don’t think you have control over or you don’t have control over? How do you stay focused? How do you stay successful? How do you stay sane in the midst of all the chaos that’s happening? And so, when life crosses you over, are you going to fall off balance? Are you going to pick yourself back up? To extend the metaphor even further, how do you rebound?
DEADLINE: The series does a great job blending the emotional beats and drama to create this intimate coming-of-age story about two boys torn between athletic and academic aspirations. This theme comes across most of your works; what was your upbringing like? And for this show, where does your experience end and where do your characters begin?
ALEXANDER: There are parts of me in each of these characters, from Josh and JB to Mom and Dad. For instance, the dad is sort of this amalgamation of who I wanted my dad to be. Because my dad was extremely bookish, and he used to make me read the dictionary, the encyclopedia. I didn’t feel like he was a cool dad. He’s also an amalgamation of who I hope I am to my teenage daughter. I like to think I’m cool. She doesn’t think that [laughs]. But I think that I am in everybody. And when I think about the story and where it ends and where my life began, I was a kid who played basketball, wasn’t that great, but loved playing it. I played tennis, ended up being pretty good at that, and was very much into athletics. And I won the spelling bee and could write my butt off in high school. I was this smart kid, who was also athletic, who just loved life. I embraced life. And so, I think I brought a lot of that experience, that sensibility, to this story, to these characters. You can be smart, funny, athletic, attend church, or have crushes. You can do all these things.
DEADLINE: What was it like adapting your work for the television and engaging with the source material differently? Was there anything you were looking to highlight specifically this time around for the TV show?
ALEXANDER: Absolutely. I mean, first of all, just because the novel is written in verse, with a lot of concise language, the right words, and a lot of white space, that lent itself pretty well to not being able to say everything in a screenplay. I was able to use some of the poems as almost scene direction because you’re inside the character’s head in the book. And so, when you’re inside the character’s head, what they’re doing, how they’re acting, that’s scene direction. So that worked. And then, just a concise rhythm in the novel’s language, I was able to bring that over into the screenplay.
But in terms of format and how to write a screenplay, I got paired with a pretty amazing screenwriter who’s been working in this business for decades, Damani Johnson, and he knew the ins and outs of how to craft a script. So, we kind of got the best of both worlds, and I think we were able to create these scripts with an amazing writing room that bridged the gap between the lyricism and the poetry of the novel and the practicality and the storytelling of a screenplay. Those two things came together, and I feel like we were successful. And so, pairing up with Damani Johnson was just the best thing ever.
DEADLINE: Let’s talk about this stacked cast. You’ve got Jalyn Hall, Amir O’Neil, Derek Luck, and Sabrina Revelle to play the central family. What qualities did they possess that made them fit the roles that they played?
ALEXANDER: The casting folks were incredible. They put so many people in front of us, and it was tough to make those decisions. But when we saw these folks on screen, when we saw Jalyn and Amir, and then we saw them together, the chemistry was there in the audition. I’ve been a huge fan of Derek Luke, and when I saw his chemistry with Sabrina, it was off the chain. That was a big thing for me. Everybody was a good actor, but it was magical to see these good actors pair up together and how they engaged and interacted with each other.
There was this spirit of collaboration and community that came together in the audition process. When it came to seeing all of them together, it was magical. [Casting] is one of the things I’m really most proud of. I’m always complaining when I watch a show in the first season; I’m always like, “Man, it’s going to take a minute for them to get their chemistry together.” And I feel like we had that from day one, and it was a blessing.
DEADLINE: This is the first TV show you’ve spearheaded, right? What has it been like collaborating with your other Executive Producers? You’ve got LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and George Tillman Jr. What did you learn while making this show?
ALEXANDER: I did actually write an episode of a show calledHip Hop Harrya dozen years ago [laughs]. But this is my first show of being a co-showrunner and being an EP. And it’s my first book being adapted for the screen. It was real work, 14-hour days of real work. And I think what I learned is I’m highly opinionated. I got a lot of opinions, and everybody else does too. I walked a fine line between “This is my book. It’s my story that I wrote 15 years ago, that I’ve lived with all these years, that I know intimately, so listen to me because I know. I am the source material.” It’s the fine line between walking and having that stance and, “I got to trust my other EPs. I got to trust the writers in the room.” And so, how do you walk those two lines and find a way to mesh them together and find that balance? I feel like we were able to do that.
They let me have my vision. They understood and respected that I was the source. I trusted their intellect when it came to creating stories for the screen, which I had never done before. I trusted their vision. And so, we just came and met each other in the middle, as it were, at the half-court line. And when the referee blew the whistle and yelled, “Jump ball,” we looked around and were all on the same team. It was us against the world. And we are coming for the world to show you what it means to be able to live in a world where you can never let anyone lower your goals. Always shoot for the sun, and you will shine. Teamwork. It’s all about who is the right team around you. And like the poster says, “There is no team tighter than family.”
DEADLINE: The Crossover has many themes dealing with generational family bonds, brotherhood, friendship, the journey of boyhood to manhood, and Black joy. But more importantly, there aren’t many family sports dramas currently airing that feature two young Black male leads on TV. Can you explain the cultural relevance and why this show is important in today’s climate?
ALEXANDER: Much like books, TV shows, and movies are mirrors and they’re windows. They allow us to be able to see ourselves, to see what’s possible for ourselves by viewing this world that we recognize. It can be aspirational. They allow us to see each other, and they allow us to be able to acknowledge and understand each other’s place in the world. And that makes us more connected to each other, which ultimately helps us become more empathetic with each other because we begin to recognize the humanity of not just ourselves and people who look like us or go to church like us or go to school with us.
That’s why I think The Crossover is a reminder to Black folks and sort of a wake-up call to the rest of America, to the rest of the world, that Black people live, hope, dream, dance, smile, eat, live just like everybody else. And how important is it for all of us to know and appreciate each other’s humanity? When we appreciate each other, we become better human beings. Ultimately, that’s the goal.
The Crossover is now streaming on Disney+.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]