Connie Britton 'Loves'Friday Night Lights' Eric and Tami Taylor Being Compared to Tim Walz and Wife Gwen (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

From L: Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler inFriday Night Lightsseason 1; Tim and Gwen Walz.Photo:Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Tim Walz/Facebook

Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Tim Walz/Facebook

Connie Brittonis all about theFriday Night Lightslove she is seeing this presidential-election cycle.

The actress recently chatted with PEOPLE about her new movieHere After, as well as about the parallels she has heard between vice-presidential hopefulTim Walzand wifeGwen Walzcompared to her andKyle Chandler’sFriday Night Lightscharacters, Eric and Tami Taylor.

“I’m so into it. I love it so much,” says Britton, 57, who has been vocal about her support for theKamala Harris-led ticket and even attended aWhite Women for Kamala Zoom callin July, days after PresidentJoe Bidendropped out of the 2024 race and Vice President Harris, 59, was presumed the new Democratic nominee. (The latter was solidified at August’s Democratic National Convention.)

Minnesota Gov. Walz, 60, wasannounced as her running mateon Aug. 6. And since the country has gotten more acquainted with his history, many people have commented on how his relationship with wife Gwen, 58, seems to mirror that of the fictional Taylors.

Gwen and Tim Walz in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Aug. 14, 2018.Stephen Maturen/Getty

Stephen Maturen/Getty

“I love Tami Taylor and Coach Taylor because they are real people,” Britton explains. “Tami and Coach share my values. And when I look at Coach Walz and Gwen Walz, I feel like they’re real people and they share my values, and I think he is a really extraordinary human being.”

The actress goes on to note that the governor has"accomplished so much in his life,“saying that she has “the highest regard for anyone who’s ever a teacher.”

“And so when I found out he was a coach, I was like, of course,” Britton continues. “And because, as we did learn watchingFriday Night Lights, that role can be not only of the leader of a team, but a very important and respected member of a community.”

“I feel that there’s a real authenticity to Coach Walz and to Gwenand to their familythat I just, I admire and have been yearning for and certainly in our, when I’m looking at our politics of late,” she adds. “And so I love the comparison. I think it’s dead on.”

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Kyle Chandler (left) and Connie Britton inFriday Night Lightsseason 3.Bill Records/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

Bill Records/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

As forFriday Night Lights —which was adapted from the 1990 book and 2004 film of the same name, and ran for five seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2011 — Britton previously said shedidn’t think there would be a reboot.

“We’ll do a reunion for sure, like a cast reunion, [but] I don’t see them going back into that story, at least with this cast,” she toldEntertainment Tonightin July 2021.

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The actress did reveal at the time that she’d “heard inklings a few years ago that they were gonna make anotherFriday Night Lights.”

Here Afteris in select theaters and on digital now.

source: people.com