Quinta Brunson Says She’ll ‘Never’ Produce, Write, and Star in a Show After ‘Abbott Elementary’
Quinta Brunson, the creator of ABC‘s smash hit sitcom Abbott Elementary, is fresh off of her first Emmy win thanks to her new show. The mockumentary-style series follows the inner workings of Abbott Elementary, an underfunded public school in Philadelphia. Impressively enough, Brunson acts as one of the series’ executive producers, writers, and main cast members — something she claims she’ll “never do again” in the future.
‘Abbott Elementary’ has received excellent critical reception
Abbott Elementary debuted on ABC and on streaming in late 2021, and was immediately met with critical acclaim. The workplace comedy series stars Brunson as second-grade teacher Janine Teagues. Her supporting cast includes Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie, Janelle James as Ava Coleman, Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill, and Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard, all educators at a predominantly Black public school.
Currently, the show holds a 98% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As reported by Variety, over 5.9 million people tuned in to watch Abbott Elementary across cable, Hulu, and other streaming services, making it a huge success for the network.
At the 2022 Emmy Awards, Brunson took home the trophy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Ralph also won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, while the casting department snagged a win for Outstanding Casting.
Quinta Brunson will ‘never’ take on another triple role
After winning her win, Brunson appeared on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. There, she made a bold claim to the late-night host. When he mentioned how difficult it must be to produce, star in, and write an entire comedy series, Brunson agreed. She added, “I’ll never do this again.”
“I really enjoy all of the three, just not together,” Brunson continued. She then explained that although she’s “good at the creative parts,” she’s less enamored by the process of being a showrunner. However, she claimed she has “wonderful” co-producers that help her out when she’s feeling (understandably) overwhelmed.
“Writing, I love. Acting is fantastic, but I’m tired. If I didn’t have a hair and makeup and wardrobe team, I would just really look decrepit here right now. I’m so tired, you have no idea,” Brunson quipped.
‘Abbott Elementary’ season 2 just premiered
Even though Brunson might be a little worn out from season 1 of Abbott Elementary, season 2 is already here. The comedy series sophomore season premiered on Sept. 21 on ABC.
While she was careful not to spill any major spoilers regarding the new season, Brunson did tease that it will be “a lot more fun” than the first during an interview on Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast.
“We’ve shown people what we can do in the first season,” she added. “To me, now it feels like we can become more of a situational comedy. We were that in the first season but we had a lot of lifting to do in terms of making people fall in love with these characters and this school.”
She added, “Now everybody loves them, now we can have some good old fashioned Friends-type fun.”
Outside of her TV success, Brunson also has many exciting opportunities on the horizon. For one, she’s appearing alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the upcoming Weird: The Al Yankovic Story as Oprah Winfrey, which premiered during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8.
