Sophia Soto
Abbott Elementary is back for season six, which means our favorite teachers and principal are ready for another school year. Quinta Brunson not only stars as Janine Teagues, but also created the comedy and serves as an executive producer. This allows her to appreciate different aspects of the genre that audiences might not think of.
“The one that’s giving me the most change in my view [of the genre is] probably writing. I mean, it’s an interesting climate where we have to bring a lot to the forefront, especially on a network sitcom, to kind of capture audiences that are, honestly, very savvy. I think about my favorite sitcoms back in the day, and the twists and turns that could happen in those sitcoms kind of can’t happen anymore. So we have to find a way to be inventive and make our show still fresh and exciting while still revisiting the comfort of the tropes of sitcoms,” she explained. “It’s been a real exercise in how can we both be familiar, but exciting at the same time?”
Meanwhile, Tyler James Williams’ Gregory Eddie will be stepping into a new role as assistant principal alongside Janelle James’ Ava Coleman, giving the two of them an interesting new dynamic to experiment with.
“I know from what we’ve done so far, which isn’t much, Ava is showing new insecurities, so that’s good,” James expressed. “That’s a new flavor for her, like visibly, outwardly insecure and maybe some self-reflection, so that’s been a new flavor to play for her.”
Williams added, “I feel like Gregory has very clear ideas of how he would like to do things, but I think he oftentimes struggles with understanding how things, although he may have opinions, worked before. And I think what’s really nice in the stuff that we’ve been doing so far is they’re having to find their level of mutual respect, which is fun after five years of playing kind of being annoyed or just showing the opinion that he’s had of what Ava’s been doing. Now they have to work together, which is really unique for this year.”
With five seasons under its belt, the show has had plenty of memorable one-liners and jokes attached to its characters, so the cast told me which ones they’d like to delve deeper into.
“For me personally, there’s one that stuck with me because, as an actor, you pull from your personal history and that affects and informs your portrayal, and there was one line, a few lines in the Christmas episode where the Schemmenti family was all gathered, where Melissa talks about being judged by her family for being different, for not having kids, that her mother never thought anything she did was good enough,” Lisa Ann Walter shared. “She’s got all these other kids that she could say, ‘This one’s great.’ And so, the idea of always trying to do well, impress, or shine because you want more than anything, your family, your mother’s approval, that stuck with me. Which is why at the end, I loved the bit with Barbara because she was the person who said, ‘You did great.’”
Sheryl Lee Ralph continued, “It’s an odd line for me. It’s, ‘Well, how do you turn this on?’ And she’s talking about the computer, literally. So I love the whole idea that she continues to try. Barbara continues to try to work with technology, even if it’s two heads down, even if it’s too focused on what’s next, but at least she’s trying to figure it out and keep up, and not remain stuck in the same way of doing things. I love that.”
“Put some respect on my name,” William Stanford Davis, who portrays Mr. Johnson, recalled. “That kind of defines his character, you know? He wants some respect, and he’s demanding it, and I’m sure you’re going to see him ask for it again.”
“I remember early on Jacob saying to Gregory, ‘You’re projecting,’ and ‘I love Janine. I don’t just like Janine, I love Janine.’ I feel like the last two years, as we’ve seen them sort of navigate this relationship, we’ve also been able to hitch a ride on Jacob’s dashed dreams and hopes for what he thinks that relationship should look like, and we get to do a lot of that this year as well,” Chris Perfetti commented. “I feel like that was something we set up early on that has just been so fun to play.”
Watch Awards Radar’s full video interview with the actors below, where we discuss how their view of the comedy genre has changed over the years, the upcoming sixth season, what they’d like to revisit with their characters, and more.
Abbott Elementary premieres on October 7 at 8:30 PM ET, with new episodes continuing to air Wednesdays on ABC and streaming on Hulu.
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