Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson teases major Barbara arc, 'game-changer' Christmas episo...

The star and creator says we'll also see Gregory's apartment for the first time. Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson teases major Barbara arc, 'gamechanger

The star and creator says we'll also see Gregory's apartment for the first time.

*Abbott Elementary *creator Quinta Brunson teases major Barbara arc, 'game-changer' Christmas episode in season 5

The star and creator says we'll also see Gregory's apartment for the first time.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Published on August 26, 2025 09:00AM EDT

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- *Abbott Elementary *returns for season 5 on Oct. 1 on ABC.

- Star and creator Quinta Brunson teases what's to come, from a game-changing Christmas episode to an even more off-the-rails Ava.

- Plus, she reveals that we'll finally get to see the inside of Gregory's apartment.

A new school year is always unpredictable — and *Abbott Elementary *is ready to surprise viewers with its fifth season.

The Emmy-winning series returns on Oct. 1, plunging us into another year at our favorite Philadelphia public school. Last season saw plenty of relationship developments for the teachers — from Janine (Quinta Brunson) meeting and vibing with Gregory's dad, Martin (Orlando Jones) to Ava (Janelle James) striking up something more serious with O'Shon (Matthew Law) to Jacob (Chris Perfetti) finally working up the courage to really move on from Zach (Larry Owens) once and for all.

***Sign up for **'s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.*****

Not to mention the fact that Ava both lost and then re-gained her job as principal.

As the students sharpen their pencils and pack their backpacks, ** called up star and creator Quinta Brunson to get the teacher's lounge gossip on what we can expect from season 5.

**: We have seen so much growth from all of the characters, but maybe one more than any other has had their own arc every season. Season 3 was Janine really coming into her own, and last year was Ava doing something similar. Would you say that's true for this upcoming season? At Comic-Con, Chris joked that it might be Jacob.**

**QUINTA BRUNSON: **It definitely was a huge arc for Ava last season. I also thought it was a huge arc for Jacob as well — his journey as an educator and doing more for the school than just being a history teacher and implementing a new club, as well as a new counselor. This season you will see similar arcs with characters, mainly Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph). We found it very natural for her to have a new arc. She's newly inspired and that's been really exciting.

Jerry Minor as Morton, Chris Perfetti as Jacob, and Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa on 'Abbott Elementary'.

Disney/Gilles Mingasson

**Last season ended with this great moment between Janine and Gregory's dad, which felt like a real step forward in their relationship. Would you agree and does Janine feel that way?**

Totally. That was a big step for both of those characters. With that being the end of the season, it was left very nebulous what that meant for them going forward. It just was a fun meeting of his dad. But all of us know that that's a huge step in a relationship to meet a parent. Both those characters know that.

**With Barbara's storyline, in an earlier season she was considering retiring, and then, the lizard situation made her rethink things. Is that something that she's gonna bump up against at some point?**

She kind of bumped up against the thought last season, and it felt she landed in a place of being rejuvenated by this new music club that Ava dropped into her lap. So, she's in a much more positive place this season. Because she is one of the more senior teachers, it'll always be a question of, "Am I done yet?" That'll always be there in the back of her mind, but right now, she's still here with us and having a good time.

**Is the rivalry between Jacob and Morton (Jerry Minor) going to continue to fester?**

Always. It's fun. You'll get that immediately.

**Janine and Gregory are in a good place. What about our single folks, Jacob and Melissa, are they going to keep playing the field?**

You'll see what dating continues to look like for those characters. It's fun to have characters who are single and getting to show what the landscape of dating looks like for new relationships or just one-offs.

Quinta Brunson teases 'Abbott Elementary' will film at a live event in season 5

Quinta Brunson says some 'Abbott Elementary' cast want to pursue other projects

**It's become a staple to do Halloween and holiday episodes. What can you tease for us about those this year?**

We'll be doing a Halloween and Christmas episode again this season. This Halloween episode is really fun because we're out of the school with this one. It's a joy to have an episode out of the school for the audience, and seeing what Halloween is going to look like now. For the Christmas episode, we are celebrating more than one thing on Christmas. Our Christmas episode is going to be a game changer. A lot's gonna change after this Christmas episode.

**You teased at Comic-Con that something this season will make Philly sports fans happy. Can you at least say whether we'll find out this fall what that is?**

Oh, you'll find out this fall. It's an earlier episode. It's either our third or our fourth, so you'll see that pretty soon.

**Are we going to continue to see Ava and O'Shon's relationship develop?**

Yes. You sure will. And it'll be really, really, really fun. It's fun having Ava and O'Shon because they're a totally different couple from Janine and Gregory. I really love showing what different relationships look like, and that they all don't look the same. Ava and Janine are two totally different people. We'll learn more about O'Shon to see what kind of person he is.

**The deal with the golf course reached its breaking point, but are we going to continue to see tension there between the club and the school?**

At this time, not really. Not that it doesn't exist or that it won't be canon in our world, but we wrapped that story up in the last season. We're moving on to different foes and obstacles for our teachers this year.

Janelle James as Ava on 'Abbott Elementary'.

Disney/Gilles Mingasson

**This show tackles both obstacles that have always existed for teachers — be that funding or difficult parents — but it also tackles the new things that come up every year, whether that's a TikTok trend or something else. What are some new challenges this year that the teachers are going to have to contend with?**

We've always talked about how the building itself is old and that's going to become a real obstacle this season more than we've ever seen. That's going to become real. Other things that become real this season are teacher turnover rate in an era where teachers are quitting left and right. We'll see that. But it's interesting because just as many teachers are quitting, new teachers are joining the field, so, you can look forward to seeing some new faces because that also presents its own challenges. But we will learn more about just how bad it can be when a building is old, what that can really do. And how a shortage can change things in a school. People having to take on more than they signed up for.

**Is having O'Shon in her life more seriously going to make Ava commit fewer HR violations? **

No. And I think you'd be surprised at how it makes her commit more. Ava in love is somehow more chaotic than Ava not in love.

**The production design on this show is always very detailed. What's something either in Janine's classroom or any of the teachers' that's new this year that audiences should look out for?**

It's hard to say without spoiling some things. One cool thing that they've done this season is you'll see Gregory's apartment, which we've never seen before, and they really went to town on that and did a great job making it look different than anybody else's space. We've seen Melissa and Jacob's place, we've seen Janine's, we've seen Barbara's. It's going to be nice to see what Gregory's living situation feels like.

**God help us when we ever see Mr. Johnson's apartment. I feel like it just has to be a vortex or something.**

When the show is over, that's where we all go — into a hole and into space.

*Abbott Elementary* season 5 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 1 on ABC.**

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