What did Quinta Brunson and the cast of “Abbott Elementary” do on their summer break? Head to San Diego Comic-Con to learn more about the upcoming fourth season of the hit ABC comedy.
After the comedy series earned nine Emmy nominations (the most for a single season), Bronson and the cast — Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, William Stanford Davis, and Sheryl Lee Ralph — gathered on stage at Indigo Hall to take fans on a behind-the-scenes tour of the show.
“This was my dream to come to Comic-Con,” Bronson said, reflecting on the surreal moment and recalling how amazing it was to see “the actors’ faces” on a billboard on the side of a hotel in San Diego. In fact, she was so excited that she snuck into a panel discussion to listen to Marvel president Kevin Feige and Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Cib Cebulski discuss what it takes to create good characters. “I was going to wear the Black Widow costume but I backed out, I backed out,” Bronson told the laughing crowd.
When asked what had changed the most over the past three years, the Emmy winner admitted that this experience was the first time she had stopped to feel proud of herself.
“The last three years have been a blur for me, and I’ve had to learn how to take the moments and put my feet up and look around,” Bronson added. “Getting to the stage at Comic-Con — ‘Abbott’ was more like a cartoon, and it ended up being a live-action movie, but we haven’t lost our animation roots — it’s special to be here.”
But before they hit the stage, the audience was treated to a refresher on the final episode of Season 3. In the episode, titled “Party,” Janine (Bronson) throws an epic end-of-year party for all of the Abbott teachers. As if anyone had forgotten, the episode ends with a romance between Janine and Gregory (Williams) that moves firmly into the “will they” category when the teachers finally kiss.
So what happened after Gregory shut the mockumentary crew out so he and Janine could kiss in private? All will be revealed when “Abbott” returns Wednesday, October 9 at 9:30 p.m. on ABC; the show airs the following day on Hulu. Executive producer Patrick Schumacher said the writers’ room is already hard at work on the 22 episodes of Season 4 — about six storylines have been broken so far.
Then Bronson decided to break the news (surprising even some of the cast members): “We’re going to do an interesting crossover this season,” she said, to cheers from the audience. “I’m not going to tell you who, what, where or when, but it’s really exciting and I think it’s going to change television as we know it.” (Walter joked, “Pete the Dragon”).
After the seminar, the Abbott Elementary School team sat down in diverse Comic-Con Studio, presented by Google TV, to illustrate this crossover episode.
“The Bear,” “The Simpsons,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” are just a few of the shows in Disney’s catalog that “Abbott Elementary” could crossover with. But Bronson kept her lips tightly sealed. She did, however, express excitement about the episode, recalling how she loved watching when Disney Channel released “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana,” a crossover episode featuring the cast of “That’s So Raven,” “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “Hannah Montana.”
“These are the things that re-energize TV viewers, and TV viewers, and I think it’s always fun to find ways to re-energize our audience,” she explained. “What’s important about ‘Abbott’ is that we protect the show. Because it’s a ‘mockumentary,’ we have to protect what we do, but to find a way to make it possible to do something as cool as this. That makes me really, really happy. It’s like an ode to the medium.”
The actors said one of the things they're looking forward to is seeing the characters on the show interact outside of school, confirming that Melissa and Jacob will remain roommates in season four and that they want to continue exploring the characters' relationships and dynamics.
More importantly, has Ava Coleman (the beloved Principle) found someone to fit her quirky personality in Season 4?
“I don’t know, but that sounds interesting… Who can match her weirdness is the question,” James said before pointing to Bronson and saying, “Who I trust to be a match for her weirdness is this guy right here.”
Watch the full interview above to see cast members share their favorite moments from Season 3.
