List of Friday Night Lights Characters - Main Characters

Main Characters

• Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) — The varsity football coach of the Dillon Panthers. The character is based on the real-life coach Gary Gaines. Like Gaines, Taylor is the new coach who is having a difficult time adjusting to the intensity that Dillon shows for football. Taylor is often conflicted with the advice he is given by local supporters of the team. After the team advances to the state tournament at the end of Season 1 under his leadership, Taylor leaves Dillon to accept a higher level job at a college, also in Texas, only to return to Dillon early in Season 2. At the end of Season 3, a series of political moves result in Taylor losing his job and moving to the re-opened, and much more poorly-funded East Dillon High. Eric rebuilds the program at East Dillon and leads them to a State Championship before moving to Philadelphia to support Tami at the end of the series.
• Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) — The wife of Eric Taylor and mother of Julie Taylor. She begins the series as the guidance counselor at Dillon High School. At the start of Season 2 she gives birth to a baby girl, Gracie Belle, and in Season 3 she becomes principal of the school, remaining there after her husband moves to East Dillon in Season 4. After the conservative community demands an apology from Tami regarding an incident that involved an abortion, Tami resigns as school principal and intends to become the guidance counselor at East Dillon. In Season 5, she is offered the position of Dean of Admissions for Braemore College in Philadelphia, which she eventually accepts in the series finale.
• Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) — The daughter of Eric and Tami Taylor, she begins the series as a freshman at Dillon High School and becomes the girlfriend of Matt Saracen. During Seasons 1 and 2 she is depicted engaging in some teenage rebellion (drinking, getting a tattoo, dating around, etc.). In Season 4, despite having earned an interview at Boston College, Julie ultimately turns down the offer, realizing that her heart remains in Dillon. In the season finale Julie and Matt break up and go their separate ways. However, their paths cross once again in Season 5 when Julie goes to Chicago to see Matt after making some bad decisions. During her visit, they kiss and Matt gives Julie the belief that she should stop running from what she's done wrong. She again leaves and their relationship remains ambiguous. However Matt, spurred on by her visit in Chicago, arrives in Dillon and proposes, and Julie says yes. Eight months later, they are living happily in Chicago at the conclusion of the series. Whether or not they are married by this point is unknown.
• Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) — The shy and stammering sophomore who is quarterback/wide receiver of the Dillon Panthers and becomes the boyfriend of Julie Taylor. He has issues with abandonment, once summing it up as that he was left by Coach Taylor for a better team, left by Julie Taylor for a better guy, left by his father for a war. Beyond this, his mother is also known to have left him around age ten, though she returns to Dillon in Season 3 to help him take care of his grandmother. Saracen is based on Mike Winchell. Saracen graduates at the end of Season 3 but remains in the cast. In Season 4, after the death of his father, he moves to Chicago in order to pursue a career in art.
• Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) - A somewhat nerdy freshman. Best friend of Panthers quarterback Matt Saracen, but wasn't on the football team in Season 1. Joined the team to impress his father in Season 2. He has his own band and is in love with Tyra Collette, who he lost his virginity to. Landry is based on Brian Chavez. Like Chavez, Landry is best friends with the quarterback. Both characters have very good grades and await a life outside of Dillon /Odessa. In Season 4, having moved to East Dillon High, Landry makes the team as a kicker and makes the season-ending game-winning field goal against the Panthers. In Season 5, Landry goes off to college at Rice University in Houston.
• Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) — The fullback/running back of the Dillon Panthers. He is the troubled best friend of Jason Street and ex-boyfriend of Tyra Collette. He later dates Lyla Garrity, with whom he has an off and on relationship. Of course, both were stops in quite a long line of girls, as Riggins is known as a bit of a womanizer. He solves many of his problems through promiscuous sex and heavy drinking. Tim is based on Don Billingsley from the film. Both Tim and Don have rocky relationships with their fathers. Both are very good players and heavy partiers. In the Season 4 finale, Tim turns himself in to protect Billy after it is discovered they were running a chop shop.
• Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki) — Former Dillon High bad girl, she cleans up her act after Tami takes her under wing. Her dating history includes Tim Riggins (Season 1, Season 5), Landry (Season 2), and a cowboy named Cash (Season 3). She is seen developing throughout the show and hoping to rise above the stereotype of the blonde, oversexed female in Dillon. She was admitted into University of Texas in Austin after graduating from Dillon High and expresses the desire to go into politics "like Mrs. T, only bigger" in the series finale.
• Jason Street (Scott Porter) — The former star quarterback of the Dillon panthers and former fiancee of Lyla Garrity. Street was paralyzed from the chest down during the first game of his senior year and developed an interest in quad rugby. He was briefly an assistant coach of the Dillon Panthers. He ends up in Northern New Jersey with his wife Erin and their son Noah, working as a sports agent. (Recapped in Season 5)
• Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) — Daughter of Buddy Garrity, former fiancée of Jason Street and former Panthers cheerleader. She initially tries to maintain her relationship with Street after his accident, but ends up cheating on him with Tim Riggins. In Season 2, she quits cheerleading and becomes very religious after her relationship with Jason falls apart and her parents get divorced. She later dates Tim Riggins and almost follows him to San Antonio State. Lyla leaves the show at the end of Season 3 to attend Vanderbilt University. She reappears in the season 4 episode "The Son" attending the funeral of Henry Saracen. In her final appearance in the following episode, she implores Tim Riggins to move on from their relationship before returning to Vanderbilt.
• Brian "Smash" Williams (Gaius Charles) — Former running back of the Dillon Panthers. Now plays for Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The character is based on Boobie Miles (played by Derek Luke in the film). Smash wants to get to the pros so he can support his family, but hits several snags when he decides to use steroids in Season 1 and gets into a fight as a result of racist comments in Season 2. He is injured between the second and third season, but Coach Taylor helps him rehab and get walk on Texas A&M, where he is a successful college player. His successes are discussed and seen on TV by several people in Seasons 4 and 5.
• Luke Cafferty (Matt Lauria) - Cafferty is new character in Season 4. Previously a standout on Dillon’s JV team, he has to attend East Dillon when it is discovered that he actually lives in the East Dillon district but has been lying about his address so he can continue to play for West Dillon. His parents, unlike most of the other parents, are not supportive of his involvement in football. Luke gets Becky Sproles pregnant on their first encounter in Season 4, causing her to be wary of him for some time. He eventually wins her heart during his senior year. Luke spends much of the 5th season conflicted about whether or not to go to a Division 3 college and play football once it becomes clear he will not get any offers from larger universities. Luke and his team-mates pull off a shock when they reach the State final and win. Eight months after the State final, Luke has enlisted and is seen at the bus station giving Becky his State ring before leaving Dillon.
• Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan)- A new character beginning in Season 4, Howard is a talented athlete but had never played football before being given the choice of joining the new East Dillon football team or going to juvenile detention. After sending his mother to drug rehab, Vince becomes East Dillon's new quarterback and leads them to a win over the Panthers in the Season 4 finale. Vince is overwhelmed by all the attention he is receiving from colleges and becomes arrogant and selfish in Season 5. This behaviour sees Coach bench him but once he realises the error of his ways, matures and leads the Lions to State. When we meet Vince, his father is in jail and Vince is running with a bad crowd, but he stands up to his father and takes care of his mother when his father is released from jail. Eight months later, Vince is shown to be the quarterback for the Dillon Panthers.
• Jess Merriweather (Jurnee Smollett)- A character that joins the series in Season 4, Merriweather is an East Dillon student whose father was a former state-championship winning quarterback of the East Dillon Lions but came to resent the sport and the team. Merriweather carries the responsibility for working in her family's restaurant and caring for her three younger brothers. By the end of Season 4, after a brief relationship with Landry, Jess becomes Vince's girlfriend. In Season 5, Jess decides to become a coach and starts shadowing Coach Taylor. Her relationship with Vince reaches a rocky patch when he starts acting selfishly. They briefly break up, but eventually fix things by the end of the season get back together before the Lions go to State. Jess later informs Coach that she is moving to Dallas because her father's fast-food franchise took off; Coach tells her he knows a coach in Dallas and will recommend her. Eight months later, she is seen shadowing that coach in Dallas, her dream still alive.
• Becky Sproles (Madison Burge) - An East Dillon student/beauty-queen hopeful. Becky undergoes an abortion late in Season 4 after a one-night stand with Luke Cafferty, and leans on Tim Riggins for support. Becky's decision to terminate the pregnancy lands Tami Taylor in hot water, eventually costing her her job. In Season 5 Becky and Luke eventually get back together and she starts living with Billy and Mindy where she's treated by both as real family. Eight months after the State game she is seen kissing Luke goodbye at the bus garage as he heads off to join the army.
• Hastings Ruckle (Grey Damon) - Hastings is discovered by Buddy Garrity and convinced by Luke Cafferty and Vince Howard to join the East Dillon football team instead of the basketball team. He becomes a talented receiver, helping the team win their State Championship.