NBA legend and broadcaster Jalen Rose is starring as an inner-city high school principal in South West High, a gritty new drama series that officially premiered today, February 23, on Tubi.
Serving as the debut original project for Rose’s Detroit-based multimedia production company, Same Page Entertainment, the five-part series is a raw, hopeful, and high-stakes look at the realities of urban education.
South West High follows Nolan Thomas (played by Rose), a former professional basketball player turned family man who returns to his Detroit alma mater to take over as principal. The school is struggling, teetering on the edge of collapse, and Nolan believes that his blend of discipline, leadership, and heart is exactly what the students need.
However, as the newly released trailer makes clear, the job is anything but easy. Nolan quickly realizes that the hallways he once walked have changed. “How do we get more kids in college than in jail?” he asks in the teaser.
As Nolan pushes for massive reform, even transferring problematic students to alternative schools, he is forced to confront painful truths about power, accountability, and sacrifice. The trailer hints at intense personal and professional turmoil, including a tragic student death and the strain his new job puts on his own family, asking the ultimate question: Is saving his old school worth risking everything he holds dear?
While South West High is a scripted drama, the heartbeat of the series is rooted in Rose’s actual life. In 2011, the Fab Five icon founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA), an open-enrollment public charter high school in Detroit.
“Since opening the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in 2011, I’ve had a front-row seat to the determination, resilience and ambition of young people in Detroit,” Rose shared in a statement. “This series is fiction, but the spirit behind it is very real. I wanted to share stories that reflect what I’ve witnessed for years – young people lifting each other up and believing in a future full of possibility.”
Produced alongside his longtime friend Ty Mopkins and series writer/director Dennis Reed II, South West High is heavily infused with Detroit culture.
The commitment to the Motor City goes far beyond the setting. Detroit hip-hop legend and Grammy-nominated artist Royce 5’9” serves as the music supervisor, composing the show’s original score alongside Denaun Porter. The guest star lineup also features local heavyweights, including Detroit rapper Sada Baby and FOX 2 Detroit news anchor Maurielle Lue.
They join a strong core cast that includes Dawn Halfkenny (Saints & Sinners) as Ava Thomas, Towanda Braxton (Braxton Family Values) as Kelli Tillman, Christina Cooper (The Oval) as Starr Bridges, former NFL linebacker Stevie Baggs Jr., social media star Brooklyn “Queen” Oates, and Don Brumfield Jr.
The first hour-long episode of South West High is streaming now on Tubi, with new episodes dropping weekly. Check out the trailer below.
