Will Taylor Kitsch Appear in the “Friday Night Lights” Reboot? Here’s What He Says It’ll Take to See Riggins Return (Exclusive)

Taylor Kitsch is clear-eyed about whether Tim Riggins should return to the upcoming Friday Night Lights reboot.

"If you wanted to put me as a visiting coach with two lines, I probably would do that, just for fun," the actor tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. "I think that would be the most I would do, because I love the way we left it."

NBC Universal announced in December that the FNL reboot is currently in development at Universal Television and will stream on Peacock, and Kitsch says he got "bombarded when that news hit."

Original showrunner and executive producer Jason Katims and writers Peter Berg (who directed the 2004 film) and Brian Grazer are set to return for the series. The cast, meanwhile, is slated to include a new crop of faces, whom Kitsch advises to make the show "your own."

"Take a swing," he says. "With his process, Pete allows you to take swings and fail, and that's why the show came out as good as it was. He doesn't put you in a box, so enjoy the process."

Related: Friday Night Lights Reboot in the Works 13 Years After the Hit Show's Finale Aired

Since FNL ended its five-season run in 2011, Kitsch has done four other projects with Berg. Their most recent collaboration is with Netflix's new Western American Primeval premiering on Thursday, Jan. 9.

"He took a chance on me with FNL," Kitsch says. "I didn't have my process yet with FNL, so I leaned on him a lot more. With any set, trust is everything. So when you have almost 20 years working together off and on, it's already there. That helps a lot because you can just take massive swings and just go for it."

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"It's been a crazy ride with him," he continues. "I think we're both proud of doing stuff that's so different. It's not like we're doing Riggins every five years. I'm always flattered when he calls, and he's like, 'All right, man, you want to challenge? Here you go.'"

Related: Taylor Kitsch Needed a Vacation After Playing David Koresh in 'Waco' . So He Took Two.

In the years since FNL, Kitsch has fought hard to stretch his acting muscles beyond the football field, playing roles as varied as a California Highway Patrol officer and veteran in the sophomore season of True Detective in 2015 and cult leader David Koresh in Paramount Network’s 2018 show Waco.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to play a football player or a Texas guy who doesn't have a father and is a drunk,” he says. “I want to keep taking big risks, and I never want to get comfortable. It's so much to go to work, and you sacrifice a lot, willingly, so it better be worth it.”

Even as Kitsch continues to expand his acting horizons, he doesn't mind that Riggins is still a role he often gets recognized for. When he was visiting family and friends in Vancouver over the holidays, a group of college kids approached him at a local bar.

“They wanted to have 28 shots with me because they just watched FNL on the plane or something,” he says with a laugh. “People, for some reason or another, just really gravitated to Riggins. That, obviously, was the springboard to the career, and I lived in Texas for 15 more years after the show, so it truly affected my life and all for the better."

Along with Berg, Kitsch — who moved to Montana in 2021 — says he's also remained "really close" with his FNL cast mates Derek Phillips, who played his brother Billy Riggins, and Jesse Plemons, who played Landry Clarke, through the years. He also chats with Connie Britton, who played Tami Taylor, "all the time."

As for the next generation of Dillon Panthers, "I wish them all the best," Kitsch says. "I hope they create some characters that people f---ing fall for, just like we did."

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