For five seasons, Quinta Brunson has kept her foot on the gas with Abbott Elementary.
Since premiering in 2021, the ABC workplace comedy has amassed an impressive 37 Emmy nominations, seven of which are for its latest season, including best comedy series and best directing for a comedy series. Brunson also made history with her fifth nomination for lead actress in a comedy series, becoming the second most nominated Black woman in the category’s history, behind only Isabel Sanford for The Jeffersons.
The creator, showrunner and star talks to THR about pulling off season five, that shocking breakup between Janine (Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) and going toe-to-toe with cable streamers as she looks toward season six.
Five seasons in, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about balancing character growth and preserving the traits that connected them with audiences in the first place?
It can be really intimidating, especially when you have a show that is considered a success, to do anything out of the box, but I think what you also learn is, with six seasons of TV or more, you have to not be afraid to take leaps and make some choices that maybe people won’t love but keeping intact the integrity of who the character is. This is my first television show, so giving myself the space to learn has been really important. Understanding that even though it’s at this higher grade, I still have the opportunity to learn, try, fail, succeed.
