Quinta Brunson has guided the Emmy-laden mockumentary “Abbott Elementary” with a sure hand, even through the strike-affected waters of Season 3. No stranger to great sitcoms, the show's creator and star knows how playing with the tropes of the genre to create something fresh. Nowhere is this more evident than in his character Janine's relationship with fellow professor Gregory, played by Tyler James Williams.
The two speak over Zoom from their respective homes shortly after completing season 3, he in New York and she in Los Angeles. Her raspy voice underscores all the work she's been doing writing, starring, editing and juggling all the other elements that go into the hit ABC series, which has been renewed for a fourth season. “What I'm doing is crazy and people shouldn't be doing it,” she says. But she wouldn't have it any other way.
“Abbott Elementary” focuses on an underfunded public school in Philadelphia and the staff who run it. Gregory, who started out as a reluctant substitute teacher in season 1, soon became attracted to Janine's presence. The feeling was mutual, as the fake film crew caught her glances and smiles; everyone around them saw what was happening before them.
Season 2 led Gregory and Janine to an impulsive kiss and then a determined step back as the characters considered what they were doing. Instead of dissipating the romantic tension, this control only served to increase it. “I firmly believe that people can find each other again,” Brunson says. “I think the 20s are a complicated time. I myself dated someone at 21 and then again at 23. You just end up doing that kind of thing, and that was what might be new for us on the “they-won't-they” front.
“You have to leave room for their spontaneity to complicate their lives,” adds Williams. “I think that's what our program does particularly well; “We allow the characters to be spontaneous in the middle of a larger plan, and that's what makes it complicated, and that's what real life is.”
The true feelings of Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) are often captured by the mockumentary cameras in “Abbott Elementary.”
(Gilles Mingasson/Disney)
In fact, the mess upended Brunson's plans for Season 3. The episodes were supposed to follow the school calendar, but after writers' and actors' strikes in 2023 halted production, she and the writers' room faced a season truncated and they had to start over. with a way to explain the start of the program in February instead of September. “To be honest, Season 3 was the first real curveball I experienced as a creator, showrunner and writer,” Brunson says. They came up with a realistic solution: the documentary crew had their equipment stolen and needed several months to find funding for new cameras and return to school. Brief flashbacks brought everyone up to speed on the action.
This season, Janine accepted a district scholarship, which took her away from daily life at Abbott. She is killing it in her new position and it shows in everything about her, from her posture to her wardrobe. Well, her wardrobe affected her posture. “This year she's wearing heels,” Brunson notes. “Even that makes you different, and all of that is a change of character for Janine, who was previously a stooped person. How does she behave with her new coworkers? In one episode, Janine manages to confront her mentor, Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph). “I was literally constricting my chest, because that's the struggle for her. 'How am I going to talk to this woman?' I have to figure out how to stay up.”
Brunson's approach to his own character also changed. “This time I had to show up to work and say, 'Wait, Janine would say this differently now, so I really need to focus on how Janine is going to behave right now.' This is very new for Janine: letting go of control; What does that look like to her? And I love that; “That makes me feel like my brain is being activated.”
Williams found her character's growth equally stimulating. “What's been nice for Season 3 is that Gregory had to deal with the idea of being at Abbott without Janine, and that she was a big part of the motivation that got him there,” she says. “Do you really love this? How do you approach your teaching technique without having someone to knock on the door and talk things through? It's a lot more development than I think a lot of people would have expected for this character who, in the comedy, functions as the straight man. “I am grateful for this opportunity to be able to show so much complexity.”
The rest of the set is also evolving. Melissa and Jacob (Lisa Ann Walter and Chris Perfetti) have become roommates and friends. No one is more surprised than them by this development. Ava (Janelle James) becomes a responsible director, relatively speaking. Barbara reveals her vulnerability when her church group doesn't appreciate her.
Brunson notes that this has been “our most polarizing season,” because everyone watching and posting has opinions on everything from Janine taking the district job to her relationship with Gregory. “At first it was a little scary to see, but then I thought, 'Oh wait, people are engaging, people are thinking, and I really want that.'”
While whether or not all of this will happen won't be resolved anytime soon, the relationship between Gregory and Janine has only deepened this season. In the episode “Alex,” where the two visit an absent student at his house, “I see us making these conscious decisions to take their relationship from wavering and not knowing where they are to almost a mom-and-dad relationship.” Williams says. “You have to communicate with each other in a way that's not walking on eggshells, but is really grounded in the way that a real relationship is, even though it may not be particularly romantic right now. “It’s been really fun to see this happen before it necessarily becomes emotionally connected.”
Although the emotions of it all are certainly there, such as when Janine turns to Gregory for help with Barbara. “That's their relationship, which for me is very valuable and beautiful to have someone with whom you can be very sincere, honest, more than a friend, but a really deep part of who you trust with your conscience,” Brunson. he says. “I think it's a fascinating relationship for them, so I really value that scene a lot because it shows where they are.”
