On the eve of the show’s launch on Disney+, the cast and creators of The Crossover celebrated their hard work with a basketball-orange carpet premiere at the historic Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. I had a spot on the carpet and got to talk with the creative team, starting with author Kwame Alexander. The novel-in-verse that inspired the series took five years to write, and then adapting it for television took yet another five years. NBA superstar LeBron James was the first pitch Kwame gave through the athletes’ production company SpringHill, but a deal couldn’t be made. Eventually, he ended up working with his fellow showrunners and executive producers Damani Johnson and Kimberly A. Harrison, and after the series landed at Disney, The SpringHill Company joined to help bring the series to life.
(Disney/PictureGroup)
As Kwame Alexander explained, The Crossover is all about family. To be specific, it’s about the Bell family, with twins Jordan "J.B" and Josh "Filthy" discovering that they are drifting apart as their parents navigate new struggles with health and careers. Stars Jalyn Hall, Amir O’Neil, Derek Luke, and Sabrina Revelle were all present to celebrate the work they did to bring this family to life on screen.
(Disney/PictureGroup)
The premiere also included the Bell’s chosen family of friends. J.B. and Filthy’s besties, Maya and Vondie, are played by Deja Monique and Trevor Bush, with Skyla I’Lece playing their shared love interest Alexis. The young costars of the series shared the joy of filming in New Orleans, from petting alligators big and small (in a safe environment) to bonding over beignets, the location shoot made The Crossover a special experience for the cast. Yvonne Senat Jones, who plays English teacher Janice Rojas-Pierre, shared a memorable ferry excursion to celebrate Kwame Alexander’s birthday. And Gabriela Lopez discovered that she and Deja Monique have a ton of similarities, which is fitting because they share the character of Maya (Gabriela plays her in flash forwards). You can hear these and other stories from the premiere in our video interview with the cast.
As with any Hollywood premiere, it wasn’t just the stars of The Crossover who attended. Raven’s Home star Issac Ryan Brown (Booker Baxter) was joined by Daniele Lawson, who plays Zara and has an expanded role in Season 6. In fact, they both came to the premiere after a day of filming an upcoming episode of the hit Disney Channel sitcom, both having friends in the cast of The Crossover that they came to support. The same was true for Bunk’d star Israel Johnson, who shared that basketball is his favorite sport and he hopes that he can dribble on screen someday as Noah Lambert. Two stars of the recent hit Saturdays were also present, with Daria Johns and Tim Johnson Jr. sharing their excitement for the newest series to enter the Disney family.
All 8 episodes of The Crossover are now streaming on Disney+.