Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson Previews Season 4’s Potential New Romance, Big Ava Story and More
Class is back in session at Abbott Elementary this Wednesday, and with the new school year comes new challenges, a potential new couple and a lot more insight into the beloved staff.
In the Season 4 premiere (airing at 9:30/8:30c on ABC), construction on a nearby golf course creates a host of issues for the teachers, series creator/star Quinta Brunson previews below. On top of that, the school gets a visit from the district’s HR rep, so does that mean Janine and Gregory are now officially a couple after sharing a heated kiss at the end of last season?
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Read on as Brunson tackles that question and previews what’s coming up for the Abbot staff. (Hint: It involves family visits and a new side of Ava.)
TVLINE | What is going on at Abbott Elementary as the new school year starts?
As the new school year starts, we’ll be dealing with more changes in the city and how the changes in the city are going to be affecting Abbott. I’m excited about it because we’re still getting to tell day-to-day school episodes, but there’s this larger, looming change happening in the neighborhood where Abbott is, essentially, located, and we’re kind of seeing the impact of that on our school, and throughout the season, there’ll be various arcs that really deal with the city’s impact on our school. Our first season was pretty grounded in seeing the day-to-day, but then we had the school district impact in Season 2 [and] a charter school. In Season 3, I really wanted to build around our teachers, kind of their place in school, figuring out that they are the DNA of Abbott. And then here, we’re kind of back to our Big Bad, which is kind of what is happening in the city.
TVLINE | At the end of last season, you left off on a pretty big Janine and Gregory moment. How will that very steamy kiss affect things between the two of them next season?
I definitely think that it is something that changes their dynamic, for sure. Those two were very intentional at the end of the season about going for each other, which was new for them. That wasn’t the case the last time that those characters kissed or even the last time they admitted to having feelings for each other. I think with the finale, it was clear that they are two people who are going to go for what they want, and now it’s about exploring what does that mean. Cool. Decision made, now what? How does your workplace change because of that? How do your lives change because of being so intentional about something?
TVLINE | Was Ava right to warn the two of them off last season against getting romantically involved? Will we see some of that come into play as complications and challenges of possibly being a couple?
I think Ava, as an administrator and as a friend, was definitely right about that. That is what any boss or administrator should be thinking about… When two people enter any type of intimate relationship, it can make things more complicated at work, where you work with each other, right next to each other. Teachers in this country are required to, eventually, let the place that they work for know, so that that place can protect themselves from lawsuits, etc. So she was totally right to kind of warn them, and I think that it was a warning that was coming from both someone who is their boss and someone who cares about them.
TVLINE | What are Janine and Gregory’s journeys next season, individually? We saw a lot of growth from Janine last season, and Gregory, as well.
I think, individually, these are two people who know that they want to be teachers at this school. For me, Gregory’s growth last season was really subtle, but it was about, “Hey, I came here to do this job. I decided to just do this job, be a first-grade teacher.” But with the Garden Goofballs, he realized that his job goes beyond just saying a lesson on the board. It, sometimes, requires being more involved in kids’ lives and giving them outlets, and that’s what led him to starting that club, and then also choosing to pursue getting funding for it. As an educator, he’s fundamentally changing to understand what the job is. And this season, we heighten that even more with Gregory. He is now going to be facing challenges that he never expected, and I would say the same thing for Janine.
Janine has known she’s wanted to be a teacher since day one. And yes, she went to the district to try to help Abbott, but ultimately, she knows, “I’m a teacher at Abbott Elementary. That’s where I want to be.” And besides that, I think Janine’s like, “I’ve got this now!” Her first season, it was about learning how to do it and trying to be like Barbara. For the second season, she was more like, “OK, I think I got the hang of it now.” Third season, “I think I’m going to go to the place that makes the decisions to make it better,” but then at the end of the third season, she realized her place is in the classroom. But that doesn’t mean the challenges are over. I know people who’ve been teachers for 10 years now, friends of mine that I graduated college with, who are constantly in awe of the new things that happen every day, like, “How did this kid manage to bring a rat into school? And how is that now my problem?” [Laughs] So it’s sometimes the little [stuff] that makes you absolutely want to quit the job, but you never stop coming, and I think that’s what Janine’s getting a lot more of this year, whereas Gregory’s getting some things that maybe he expected as a teacher, but as a man, what does it mean to be a man who’s also a teacher who has to deal with his manhood constantly coming into question, which I think is really, really interesting.
TVLINE | What’s in store for the other teachers, Jacob, Melissa, and Barbara?
We’re going to learn a lot more about Jacob, and I think one thing that’s really exciting about him is we’re going to get to meet some family of his, and I just love meeting families. It’s just so fun. I think that’s going to be huge for Jacob because it’s going to tell us a lot about his character without us saying specifically to the camera, “Hey, this is what my life was like. This is my situation.” But I’m just excited to see family of his.
I think Melissa’s stories are so just fun and funny this year. And no matter what, we always want people to be learning about our characters, but I think hers are just flat-out funny, and I’m really excited about them because I think they’re showcases for Lisa Ann Walter, who is hilarious. She’s so good at being grounded that I feel like she doesn’t always get to show how freakin’ hilarious she is, so I’m excited to give her those pieces.
We’ll definitely see more about Ava than we’ve ever seen in any season. Super pumped about that. These are very revealing stories for her. We’re learning a lot more about her ethos as a person, why she is the way she is, meeting some of her family in interesting ways, and what her goals and pursuits and dreams are now that she’s kind of, in a sense, conquered being a good principal, and I think she’s kind of asking herself the question, “Is this all I want for myself?” Is what we’ve seen so far all she wants in her life, and is it enough?
And then Barbara is asking a similar question, but in a very different way. Barbara’s evaluating where she is, does she need to make changes? She’s been doing this job a very, very, very, very long time, and the world is changing a lot. So does she want to keep up with the changes of the world? That’s been leading into some really interesting stories.
Even Mr. Johnson, this season, has a ton of great stuff. I’m just pumped to give him larger storylines. He’s a character we do like to keep mysterious, but even the most mysterious characters have some ground to stand on, and I think that we’ll be getting a lot more of that from him this season.
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