‘Abbott Elementary’ Producers Talk Release Time Jump, Cameos and More

School has started again and the season 3 premiere of Abbott Elementary packed enough to fill an entire school year. Or at least half of one.

The return of the ABC comedy arrived with a huge premiere that included a time jump to jump forward the characters five months to align with our contemporary timeline. We caught a glimpse of the teachers returning to school before learning that the documentary crew’s equipment was stolen, preventing them from filming for five months. But it turns out that a lot has happened.

Ava (Janelle James) spent her summer studying at Harvard (which means taking online courses while sitting in parks and coffee shops around Cambridge, Massachusetts), and returns determined to be a more responsible principal. This includes a Development Day, which attracts visitors to the district, who tempt Janine (Quinta Brunson) with the offer of a district-level scholarship.

She considers it, but is sad at the prospect of leaving Abbott, until Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) reminds her that this could be an opportunity to make real change. But before she leaves, Janine tells Gregory (Tyler James Williams) that she changed her mind over the summer and that she’s ready to try a relationship with him. But he “put an end to it” and moved on! Meanwhile, the other teachers use Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” to reprogram Ava, as her new approach to work begins to drive them crazy.

After the time jump, Janine implements her idea for Career Day at Abbott, proving to be an asset at the district level. But things get complicated when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts calls virtually and is then joined by defensive end Brandon Graham and center Jason Kelce. The “miracle,” as Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) calls it, leads her vending machine lover, Gary (Bruno Amato), to propose. But Melissa never wants to marry again, leading to a mutual breakup.

To find out about all of these new developments, we called executive producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumaker to meet Maria in hopes of getting some answers.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start with the time jump. What prompted you to jump ahead five months in the school year after showing us part of the beginning of the year?

PATRICIO SCHUMAKER: In an ideal world, Abbott Season 3 would have been a fall show like Season 2 was. We love being able to combine our storytelling within the school year and have all the holidays and such lined up. So this was our way of having our cake and eating it too. We explained that you missed a lot, but here we explain why you can’t see it. With the theft of the camera equipment, that seemed to be the only thing our show could do that not many documentary shows could do. There were proto versions of season 3 that were more about telling stories about a teachers’ strike or something. It seemed too obvious and we were tired of the word strike. We always wanted to tell a story in Season 3 about Janine going to work for the district. It was going to be a much slower process. If we had been a fall show, we wouldn’t have started with her already having accepted the job from her.

What was behind the idea of ​​Janine going to the district and pursuing this scholarship? Is that a position she’ll be in for the rest of the season?

JUSTIN HALPERN: In the first season, we tackled the lack of overall funding and how to get people used to what it really means to run a public school. In season two we talked a lot about charter schools. We try to get to their core. For the first two seasons, the district has always been the bad guy. We wanted to show what it was like to do things in the district. Specifically because there is a big movement in many US bureaucracies of young progressives coming in there and trying to make change. So, we wanted to show what that looks like, how hard it is to do, and maybe even (Janine) figure out, “Oh, here’s the real boogeyman/what’s causing problems even at the district level.”

The most important thing is that, for Janine, she always said she wanted to make real change and Barbara always said, “This is a school. You’re dealing with individual people. There’s a different place to go if you want to do something.” “In the natural progression of this character, she would find it attractive to be able to see what she looks like. What will she learn about herself when she is in the district? That will be really interesting for her growth as a character.” .

We get a little look at what happened before the time jump and surprisingly see that Janine reconsidered over the summer and actually asked Gregory about getting into a relationship and he declined. He initially seemed really put off by his choice. So what’s behind this change of heart?

ALFALPERNO: It’s his growth as a character. He told her how she felt at the end of season 2. She said she wasn’t there. Then three months later, apparently, she says, “Actually, you know what? I think I’m already there.” Gregory from season 1 would have said, “Cool, let’s do it.” But he has grown as a character and is rightly cautious of someone who could change course so quickly. He spent that summer coming to terms with the fact that he had said what he felt, and she didn’t feel the same way at that moment. He is trying to move forward in his life, grow as a person and learn about himself. If he had said, “Sure, let’s do it,” as an audience, they might have enjoyed the fact that the two people they want to be together with are together in that moment. But it would have felt fake. He would have lost a little respect for the character.

Is it fair to say that deep down he still has non-platonic feelings for her?

SCHUMAKER: He really loves her as a person. But he’s not going to investigate whether or not he’s going to open that other box right now. A part of him really doesn’t allow it right now. He’s a guy who’s all about self-control.

They have this moment of reconciliation in five months. She assures him that she didn’t take this job in the district because he turned her down. Is she lying a little?

ALFALPERNO: No. It really isn’t. She doesn’t lie at all. We wanted to start the season with these two people in a place where they act in good faith. She didn’t really take that position because of what he said. He took it because it was a really exciting opportunity for her. She had already made that decision before sitting with them in that bar. Obviously, anyone who’s had the story that she’s had, when you hear someone say they’re going to miss you a lot, it definitely lingers. But I don’t think that influenced her decision. At least we hope that’s not what the audience gets.

It was so fun to see Ava as this more rule-based, rule-following version of herself. Is it possible that version will reappear at some point or has it been successfully rescheduled?

HALPERN: It has been rescheduled. She’s done with all that.

SCHUMAKER: The juvenile is too powerful.

Melissa and Gary’s romance ends because they want different things. Why did you go and break our hearts like that?

SCHUMAKER: All I’ll say is that Melissa’s character goes through a couple of changes: in her living situation, say, and potentially in other romantic exploits in the future.

We get some of Jacob and Barbara in this, but more in terms of their investment in each other’s lives. What can you make fun of them this season?

ALFALPERNO: Jacob will also go through some bigger emotional things this season. Not only are Janine and Gregory in their twenties and messy, but so is Jacob. For Barbara, we get some good emotional twists in terms of the things she has to deal with. Her spirituality is a topic we touch on this season.

For a show set in Philadelphia, you got the most epic cameo from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. How did the idea come about?

SCHUMAKER: Jalen’s reps reached out to Quinta and the show last season saying he’s really eager to be a part of this in any way he can. When the details of the race day premiere came up, it was a no-brainer that we would try to get Jalen. It was a very fluid process. Honestly, it was a great gift. And then we also had Jason and Brandon. It was a snowball effect once we got Jalen. He and the Eagles organization were instrumental in making all of this happen. From a production standpoint, we sent one of our first cinematographers to Philadelphia, and he was our one-man team at the Eagles facility, where we shot that side of things in their war room. We filmed everything live. It was incredible.

Now that Jason Kelce has been on the show, what do you think? Abbott Is there a degree of separation with Taylor Swift?

SCHUMAKER: If this somehow gets Abbott Closer to winning a Grammy, I’m very happy.

ALFALPERNO: We want Abbott the show to win an EGOT. I don’t know how that happens, but if corporations can be people, shows can too.

Can you preview next week’s episode?

ALFALPERNO: This is an episode that begins Gregory’s actual arc in the season.

Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

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