Cast and crew of ‘Abbott Elementary’ share the best bits from season 3

Over its three seasons, “Abbott Elementary” has won four Emmy Awards and garnered 20 nominations, nine of which come from the upcoming 2024 ceremony on September 15. According to series star Chris Perfetti, much of the ABC sitcom’s success is due to the “very specific and very real” cast of characters developed by “Abbott Elementary” creator, actress and writer Quinta Brunson.

“The mockumentary allows us to rest on investing in the real lives of these people. I think like [the characters] were more caricatures, it’s just not sustainable.” Perfetti said. “I felt like Quinta wrote jokes for herself and that’s a quality I’m very attracted to. It felt so real and so smart, and so Quinta did a lot of legwork there.

At an Emmy FYC event Friday night at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles, the cast and crew of “Abbott Elementary,” including Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, William Stanford Davis, Patrick Schumacker, Justin Halpem , Randall Einhorn, Brunson and Perfetti sat down Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis to discuss all their success leading up to the show’s highly anticipated fourth season.

“Abbott Elementary” follows a group of dedicated teachers at an underfunded public school in Philadelphia who defy the odds to help their students succeed.

Special attention was drawn to the very memorable “Mother’s Day” episode, which delved deeper into the character of Gregory Eddie, played by Williams.

Williams praised the work in season 3, saying it felt like they opened the door for more exploration into Gregory’s life and allowed him to explore the role beyond the comedic “straight man.”

“Mother’s Day, man, that was a fun one,” Williams said. “I got the chance to finally get my whole episode with this, and I love this about long-form TV, right? You see these characters evolve in very dynamic ways over a short period of time, but also over longer periods of time. That episode explained a lot to me about him, and gave me the opportunity to give that growth a little push. Season 3 has seen the most growth we’ve seen from Gregory yet, which is why it’s one of my favorites.”

Fun fact: Williams is trying to start his own garden, but “previously I killed every plant that came into my house, so everyone pray.”

Brunson did reveal that Gregory’s garden is very real, growing fruits and vegetables that the crew takes home (thanks to Randall Einhorn), including watermelons, cilantro, and lots of kale.

In the new season, audiences also got to see a whole new side of Barbara Howard, a drunken shoe-losing side. “I don’t know why Quinta likes a drunk Barbara,” Ralph asked.

“It’s so funny!” Brunson intervened. “It’s just funny!”

“And she keeps losing her shoes,” Ralph continued. “I’m just glad the wig is staying straight. She’s not one of those drunks who loses his shoes and then the wig ends up backwards. I love Barbra because I’m starting to see all these different layers of this woman peel away… I’m intrigued by her because it reminds me of all my favorite teachers and I just wanted to know: What were they hiding? ”

James said that when audiences first saw her performance as the overbearing protagonist Ava Coleman, some reviewers immediately wrote her off due to the character’s bullishness. Knowing there was much more to Ava than her antagonistic attitude, James was pleased to see those critics “eating their words” after earning three Emmy nominations of their own.

“I read [the pilot] and I said, ‘This lady is it, and they’re going to see it,’” James said. “I knew that from the first episode, and so it was a joy again to see people come in and see how layered the character is and how she carries both sides of her humanity.”

Watch the full conversation above.