The Television Career of Kyle Chandler

If you are missing the TV cast that made up the drama Friday Night Lights, you may have been a little less sad at the end of last week. On March 20, Netflix began streaming its newest series, Bloodline, which stars Kyle Chandler as the lead character. Chandler spent five seasons playing everyone’s favorite football coach, Eric Taylor, on Friday Night Lights and will now be playing John Rayburn on the mysterious Netflix drama, which is about a group of adult siblings whose secrets from their childhood are exposed when one of the brothers returns. All 13 episodes from the first season have been released, so you can binge-watch this series the same way you do with other popular Netflix shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Kyle Chandler has been starring on television for over twenty five years. Here is a look back of some of those popular roles.

TV Movies and Television Appearances (1988-1989)

Kyle Chandler got his start on television at the age of 23. He dropped out of college at the University of Georgia where he was pursuing a degree in theater. Chandler was only seven credits short of obtaining the degree but was signed by the ABC television network in 1988. His first role was a minor part in the 1988 television movie Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story. The film was about a football coach that is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and starred Michael Nouri and Pam Dawber.

The following year, Kyle Chandler would make four television appearances. He would star in two television movies: Unconquered and Home Fries Burning. That would be followed by a guest-starring role on China Beach and one on the horror series Freddy’s Nightmares.

Tour of Duty (1990)

After living in California for two years, Kyle Chandler would finally get his big break in 1990. He was selected to play Private William Greiner in the war drama Tour of Duty. He appeared in eight episodes of the third and final season. The series also featured Terence Knox and Tony Becker. The following year, Chandler would be cast in a leading role in a new series.

Homefront (1991-1993)

That series would be Homefront and Chandler would be cast as Jeff Metcalf. He was a center-fielder for the Cleveland Indians in this drama that was set in the 1940s. The series also starred Mom‘s Mimi Kennedy and Mad Men’s John Slattery. Homefront would run on the ABC network for two seasons but would be cancelled after airing 42 episodes. The entire series can be purchased on DVD.

Early Edition (1996-2000)

When Homefront ended in 1993, Kyle Chandler continued to find work on television. He would appear in the 1994 mini-series Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III. The following year, he would star in two television films. The first was Sleep, Baby, Sleep, which was about a woman, played by Growing Pains’ Tracey Gold, with a rare mental disorder trying to find her husband and baby that have disappeared. The second movie was called Convict Cowboy and starred Jon Voight.

Then in 1996, Chandler was cast as the lead character Gary Hobson on the CBS drama Early Edition. The series was about Gary, who would receive tomorrow’s newspaper today. He would then try to prevent horrific events from occurring to the citizens of Chicago. Early Edition aired on Saturday Nights between Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Walker, Texas Ranger. It would then move to 8 PM when Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman would end. After airing for four seasons and averaging 10 million viewers, Early Edition was cancelled having aired 90 episodes.

Short-Lived Series and Grey’s Anatomy (2000-2006)

Kyle Chandler was quick to find a new television project after the cancellation of Early Edition in May 2000. He was cast as Jake in the comedy What About Joan, which also featured Joan Cusack. Like Early Edition, this series was filmed in Chicago. What About Joan was a mid-season replacement that would air in March 2001. The second season would be short-lived and be cancelled in October. In total, only 21 episodes of What About Joan were produced. In 2003, Kyle Chandler would be cast in the anticipated NBC drama The Lyon’s Den, which would also include Rob Lowe. However, due to extremely low ratings, the lawyer drama was axed from its time slot after six episodes.

In 2006, Kyle Chandler was featured on the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that followed Super Bowl XL. He played a bomb squad leader who blows up after a bomb is retrieved from a patient’s body. His appearance earned him an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Despite being killed off after two episodes, Chandler reprised the role for two additional episodes in 2007.

Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)

Friday Night Lights’ developer Peter Berg met Kyle Chandler during the filming of Grey’s Anatomy. He told him about the series and Chandler was very interested in the role of Dillon Panthers’ Football Coach Eric Taylor. He would win the role in late 2005, and the series would begin airing on NBC in the fall of 2006. Friday Night Lights would also star Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, and Scott Porter. The series was well received by critics, but it struggled to find an audience. NBC was going to cancel the series after the Writers’ Strike halted production on the second season in 2007. Luckily, the network instead struck a deal with DirecTV that would allow the cable provider to air new episodes before they were broadcast on NBC. Through this method, Friday Night Lights would air for three additional seasons and produce a total of 76 episodes. Kyle Chandler received an Emmy nomination and a win for his work on the series during the final two seasons.

Bloodline (2015)

After the end of Friday Night Lights, Kyle Chandler took a break from television and starred in many successful, Oscar-nominated (and Oscar-winning) movies, such as  Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Wolf of Wall Street. This year, Chandler makes his return to “television” with the Netflix series Bloodline. The series is from Glenn and Todd Kessler, who brought us Damages. So far, reviews have been positive for the series, which also stars Sissy Spacek, Linda Cardellini, and Sam Shepard .

Which of Kyle Chandler’s television roles is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.

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