Quinta Brunson on ‘Abbott Elementary’ Return, Season 4’s ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Crossover and “Confusing” Emmys Comedy Category

[This article contains spoilers about season four of Abbott Elementary.]

Abbott Elementary’s Oct. 9 season four return with a full 22-episode order, following an abbreviated season three, has spelled good news for both fans of the ABC sitcom and its creator-star Quinta Brunson.

“The 22-episode order lets us get back to the roots of how Abbott was built in the first place,” Brunson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m happy to be here because it feels so much better.”

The premiere episode introduces the metaphorical enemy the teachers at Abbott Elementary will contend with this season — gentrification — after finally facing the educational boogeyman that was the District in season three. Now the school will grapple with the changes that come with the creation of a luxury golf course in their area — which brings about tangible inconveniences, like water and gas shut-offs in the middle of the school day and longer commute times as a result of construction — as well as Abbott’s first white student whom Ava (Janelle James) ridiculously mistakes for a ghost when she finds him waiting in the school lobby. The inspiration for the storyline stems from real life, says Brunson.

“It’s kind of based on something that’s actually happening in Philadelphia right now. There is a big PGA golf course that’s being built in the city. And everything, good or bad, always has an effect on the community, smaller communities. So we’ll be exploring the positives and the negatives of something like a golf course coming into the city,” explains Brunson. “It felt like a good big bad for this season, a good villain, so to speak.”

Not all is a battle for the show’s characters, however, with Janine (Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) making their relationship official not only between the two of them but also with human resources when HR employee Warren (Ben Onyx Dowdy) makes a visit to Abbott from the District at the request of Ava in episode one.

Below, Brunson talks to THR about finally exploring a relationship between Janine and Gregory this season, how the upcoming crossover episode with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia came together and the controversy surrounding the Emmy comedy category following Abbott Elementary’s lack of wins at this year’s awards.

***

How does it feel to be coming into season four of Abbott Elementary?

Super cool, I’m very happy to be here. It’s great, as you guys know, to just have a fourth season of TV. It’s wonderful and I was very happy going into this one. Last season, we were coming off of the work stoppage in Hollywood and we had a shorter season. It was a little bit more chaotic getting into things. This year, it feels like we’re relaxed and at a really chill place that I’m enjoying from a writing, creating and acting standpoint.

Episode one kicks off with the beginning of a new school year. Talk about centering gentrification in that episode, and are the golf course and the changing demographics of West Philly going to continue to be issues for Abbott throughout the season?

And I love it because we don’t have to be as on the nose about gentrification. We’re kind of talking about an entity, a business, but also a sport. And objectively, this is a big deal for the city for sure, but we’re really just talking about the effects of this golf course coming in, and throughout the season, we’ll see the different ways in which that affects the community and our school.

I was ready to scream at my screen when Janine did her first confessional this season, and pretended that she and Gregory didn’t work out.

(Laughs) It really gets people. I think it’s so funny. It kept getting me in the edit and I know it! I was like, “Aww man.”

How did you decide season four was the right time for this pair to be in a relationship?

It just felt like the right time. I didn’t want to push it off any longer. I always kind of had it in mind that it would be season four. I thought about changing that when we had the shortened, abbreviated third season, but it feels fun to be in this place with their characters. It’s so joyful to actually watch them just be together. And I think that it’s really cute and fun to see, especially for a young Black couple — a young, Black kind of goofy couple. I’m enjoying so much; there’s no more angst, no more umph, it’s like, “Okay, now who are you?” Now that you do know what’s going on and you are together, that’s another fun experiment and we’re getting to see that throughout the episodes of the season. What are the first fights? What are the first arguments? What new things are you learning now that you’re giving yourself space to be together and learn those things?

Audiences have been shipping these two from the start, and you talked to THR recently about how you want fans to feel like the show is their entertainment, not their job. How much do you pay attention to audience reaction at this point?

I think it’s important to, from afar, listen to what audiences enjoy, period. I love hearing what people have to say about other shows. I love talking to my friends about the TV we’re watching. Also, as a TV watcher, I’m just not as intense. I’ll watch everything and I don’t feel the need to say, “this is horrible,” or “this is good.” I just enjoy watching things, and not having a “this is so bad” or “this is so good” opinion. If something’s really exceptionally good that leads me to the place of becoming a huge fan. So I think it’s nice to know what audiences want, to know what they enjoy, but I don’t think that I’d want to base everything we do in Abbott off of that. It’s a weird relationship. And I think any creator has it with their product and audience. And everyone is different. I think some creators absolutely want to serve their audience everything they want, and I think that’s fine too. And I think some people want to blow and change their audience’s mind every time they interact with their work and not necessarily give them exactly what they want but something they never expected. So that idea is always in play for me to kind of trust the vision and hope for the best, and I think that’s the best way to go about making Abbott.

At the end of last season, showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacher told THR the number of guest stars might be scaled back this season due to the sheer amount of logistical work it takes pulling off all of those appearances. Did that end up being the case?

So far, yes. And even last season, the logistical work was part of it — Justin and Pat are right — it wasn’t easy last year. This is the thing, we had that abridged season so we really wanted to pack a punch with what we had. And we had these great people who we thought of for the show, and they were able to come be on it. This season, there’s just not as much of a need for that. We’ve been writing the stories really organically, and it hasn’t been going to that place. Once again, I think that’s the beauty of the 22 [episodes] for us. It kind of feels chill; we’re just sitting with these characters a little bit longer. As of now, and I think we are in the middle of writing episode 13, there’s not that many guest stars so far.

There’s a bit of a mini homage to Will Smith in episode two this season. Is that a bit of a foreshadowing? Have you talked to him at all about guest starring?

No, not at all (laughs). Not at all. Not in a bad way, but no. He’s just a part of Philadelphia culture. And no, the school is loosely named Willard, his first name is Willard. So yeah, no (laughs). I just thought it was funny how, like the character Tariq [Zack Fox] says, most Philly functions end in a line dance, so it was a long walk backwards just to get to the line dance.

Well, we do have photographic proof now of the coming crossover episode with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, what can you share about how that came about?

So Rob McElhenney, there was something online that he saw that someone sent him and said, “This would make a funny It’s Always Sunny episode,” and he retweeted it and said, “I think it would be a great Abbott episode,” and that kind of sparked us talking. The episode has nothing to do with what was sent to him, but it got us chatting and, honestly, I really like Rob. I think we get along because, like me, he’s a writer, creator of a show, loves comedy, he’s from Philly. We just clicked right away, and we started really talking about it and realizing we can really do this. We’re both under the Disney umbrella, we can make this work.

They represent a part of South Philly, and we represent a part of West Philly that is very real, and it wasn’t a long walk for these characters to interact. It just made sense immediately. And when it came to us that easy, we were like, “Yeah, we have to do this.” So we start putting things in motion at the beginning of this Abbott season because Sunny, they just started writing their season. And Charlie [Day] and Rob came into the room with us one day, they were wonderful, just excellent, excellent collaborators. I can’t say enough kind words about them. We had a ball. We’ve been having a ball on set. They’re just a delight to work with. And I can help breathe new life into our world and vice versa. It’s been an absolute joy to work with them. And above all else, Rob and Charlie and them, they’re like me. We like comedy, and we want to make comedy, and we want to do exciting things with comedy. And when you’re working with people like that, who are all on the same page, it’s just magical.

Sunny has built such a cult following as a long-standing dark comedy. Had you always been a big fan of the show?

Absolutely. Our shows have very different tones, and that’s what I like about them. Them being willing to take the chance, which Abbott had to be as well, to blend those tones together. Some people on my own production were like, “it can’t be done,” and it’s like, it absolutely can. It can, it really can. And actually, it’s pretty easy. You just have to believe it can be done.

This year’s Emmy awards brought up the issue of categorization again, with fans being disappointed that Abbott, a traditional comedy, didn’t take home many of the wins that were expected in the genre. Do you think this is something that the Television Academy should address?

I think they should give it some thought, yeah. I think they should give it some thought. As you can see, people are confused. I don’t know why you want to keep confusing people. You might want to give it some thought.

You’re set to co-star in the upcoming comedy Par for the Course, how do you anticipate the logistics of working on that film along with Abbott panning out?

Well, right now we’re still writing that, which has been a collaborative process with Point Grey and Universal. It’s a big, silly comedy and I’m excited to bring that to theaters, because there’s so much that goes into making a movie and making a comedy and there’s a lot of talk about whether they do well at the box office and blah blah blah. But I want to throw my hat in the ring of trying to make a comedy do really well with two women. I’m pumped about it. On one hand, I don’t care about it doing well. I’m excited to make it, you know what I mean? That’s kind of my goal. I’m just excited to get it out in the world. And I feel like it’ll be a puzzle piece and hopefully bringing comedies back to the box office in a really big way.

***

Abbott Elementary airs new episodes of season four each Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. CT on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu.