Starring as Dillon James in the hit CW series football drama, All American star Jalyn Hall just got cast in a role of a lifetime. Deadline confirmed that Hall was cast as Emmett Till in Chinonye Chukwu’s upcoming film Till about Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight for justice for the brutal murder of her 14-year-old son, Emmett Louis Till.

Hall joins the previously announced cast of Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg as Emmett’s grandmother, Alma Carthan, and Danielle Deadwyler (Watchmen) as Mamie Till-Mobley.

It is not hard to notice that Hall is the same age as Till was when he was tragically murdered; that’s the kind of perspective that Hall will have to navigate through when acing this role.

Till follows Mamie Till-Mobley, whose quest for justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till became a defining milestone in the civil rights movement. Mamie’s choice to have an open casket at Emmett’s burial and to have David Jackson’s photographs of the funeral published in Jet magazine was motivated by her need to ensure that everyone understood what had happened to her son.

Chukwu also wrote the script based on another draft written by Keith Beauchamp and Michael J P Reilly. Beauchamp undertook extensive research for his award-winning documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, which premiered in 2005.

Hall is currently starring in All American, with season four coming soon. He is also set to star in Joe Robert Cole’s Netflix film All Day and a Night in the lead role.