Friday Night Lights: Scott Porter explains why he thinks 'Jason won'

From the second episode on, Friday Night Lights refused to let the story of a tragedy become a tragedy itself.

When Friday Night Lights premiered, Jason Street's story was one of tragedy: The football prodigy who has everything ripped away from him in a split-second. But from the second episode on, the show refused to let the story of a tragedy become a tragedy itself.

Jason fought his way back into the world and found a new path for himself. After leaving Texas in season 3, Street returned briefly in season 5, which is when fans learned that he'd become a husband, a father, and a successful sports agent. And for Scott Porter, that was the greatest goodbye he could've imagined.

"In my mind, Jason won," Scott Porter says during EW's Binge podcast. "Everybody in that town is so worried about winning football games but when it really comes down to it, he won the biggest prize of all: He grew up. He got out. He has a wife that he loves, and he's got kids, and he's got a great job, and he succeeded when the deck was so stacked against him and that is only a testament to his fortitude. And of course he had support around him, but he had to fight through everything and had to overcome so much. I think it was the perfect ending for Jason." <iframe src="https://art19.com/shows/ews-binge/episodes/0210b7da-2bb4-41c3-acd3-05623b29d1e8/embed?theme=light-gray-blue" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="460" frameborder="0" class="" allowfullscreen="" resize="0" replace_attributes="1" name=""></iframe>

To hear more from Porter – as well as costars Derek Phillips, Connie Britton, and more – on the making of Friday Night Lights, you can listen to the new episode of EW's BINGE of Friday Night Lights above, where hosts Samantha Highfill and Darren Franich analyze season 5's biggest moments. Subscribe to the podcast now, and be sure to tweet any questions/comments to @samhighfill and @darrenfranich or email them to [email protected]. EW's Binge is produced by EW's Cristina Everett and edited by Will Malnati of At Will Radio.

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