Abbott Elementary is an American television series created by Quinta Brunson for ABC. It stars Brunson as a second grade teacher at Abbott Elementary, a fictional predominantly Black school in Philadelphia. The ensemble cast includes Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph and William Stanford Davis. The following is a list of characters, including the main cast and those who appear alongside the main cast in the series.
Cast overview Key
+Abbott Elementary main cast and characters Actor Character Seasons First appearance 1 2 3 4 5 6 Main characters Quinta Brunson Janine Teagues colspan="6" "Pilot" Tyler James Williams Gregory Eddie colspan="6" Janelle James Ava Coleman colspan="6" Lisa Ann Walter Melissa Schemmenti colspan="6" Chris Perfetti Jacob Hill colspan="6" Sheryl Lee Ralph Barbara Howard colspan="6" William Stanford Davis Mr. Johnson colspan="5" Recurring characters Kate Peterman Tina Schwartz colspan="2" "Pilot" Zack Fox Tariq Temple colspan="5" "Light Bulb" Nikea Gamby-Turner Shanae colspan=3 Naté Jones Amber colspan=2 Lela Hoffmeister Courtney Pierce colspan="4" "Student Transfer" Bruno Amato Gary colspan="4" colspan=2 "Gifted Program" Orlando Jones Martin Eddie colspan="2" colspan=2 "Work Family" Larry Owens Zach colspan="4" colspan=2 "Desking" Lauren Weedman Kristen Marie Schemmenti colspan=2 "Wrong Delivery" Keyla Monterroso Mejia Ashley Garcia colspan="2" "Story Samurai" Zakai Biagas Bey Clarence colspan="4" Courtney Taylor Erika colspan="2" colspan="2" "Candy Zombies" Jerry Minor Joseph Morton colspan="4" "Egg Drop" Raven Goodwin Krystal Taylor Garron Tasha Hoffman colspan="2" "Sick Day" Vince Staples Maurice "Mo" colspan="4" "Holiday Hookah" Mike O'Malley Captain Robinson colspan="2" "Fire" June Diane Raphael Elizabeth Washington colspan="3" colspan=2 "Educator of the Year" Taraji P. Henson Vanetta Teagues colspan="2" "Mom" Josh Segarra Manny colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan=2 "Career Day, Part 1" Kimia Behpoornia Emily colspan="2" Benjamin Norris Simon colspan="2" Mason Renfro Alex Perkins colspan="2" colspan="2" Ben Onyx Dowdy Warren colspan="2" colspan=2 "Gregory's Garden Goofballs" Cree Summer Rosalyn Inez colspan="2" "Librarian" Keegan-Michael Key John Reynolds colspan="2" colspan="3" "Panel" Karan Soni Avi colspan="2" colspan="3" Tatyana Ali Crystal Riley colspan="2" colspan=2 Pam Trotter Dia colspan="2" colspan="3" "Alex" Matt Oberg Miles Nathaniel colspan="3" colspan=2 "Back to School" Matthew Law O'Shon colspan="3" colspan="2" "Class Pet" Keith David Frank Coleman colspan="3" colspan=2 "Winter Show" Logan Carter R.J. McCann colspan="3" colspan=2 "Testing" Jaboukie Young-White Elijah colspan="3" colspan="2" "Karaoke" Luke Tennie Dominic Clark colspan="4" "Team Building" Marcella Arguello Elena Alomar colspan="4" "Cheating"
Main characters Janine Teagues
Janine Teagues is the plucky and optimistic lead of the series who works as a second-grade teacher at Abbott Elementary. Throughout the series she remains unjaded by all of the things the school lacks and strives to make sure her students have enough to learn and grow. While helping the students of Abbott, Janine also deals with challenges and relationships within her personal life.
During the events of the first season, Janine is looked over by the staff of Abbott, particularly Ava who bullies her numerous times. Throughout the season, she dates Tariq, whom she has been in a relationship with since eighth grade. She struggles with the thought of ending her relationship with Tariq; however, other Abbott staff believe the two should break up. At the end of the season, she breaks up with him when he decides to move to New York City to pursue his career as a professional rapper. In season 2, Janine struggles to get over Tariq and has trouble paying her rent, since she originally split the bill monthly with Tariq. When trying to rekindle Melissa's relationship with her sister, Janine describes her complicated family history, with a mother who never paid her any attention and a sister who lives in another state. She begins regularly hanging out with Jacob and Erika, an old mutual friend of Tariq, who supports Janine and invites her to parties to increase her social mobility. She dates Gregory's friend Maurice throughout the season, which prompts unspoken jealousy. After Janine breaks up with Maurice, she and Gregory confess their feelings for one another but agree to remain friends for personal growth. In the third season, Janine and Gregory move past their awkward conversations as she begins a job working for the Philadelphia school system. In the fourth season, Janine begins dating Gregory.
Relationship with Gregory While hinted at in the pilot episode, Janine and Gregory have a will-they-won't-they dynamic that is apparent in almost every episode. They teach classes next to each other and have developed a special bond. They almost share a kiss during the Christmas episode, but they are interrupted by Amber. After Gregory breaks up with Amber, he shares a drunken kiss with Janine at a teacher conference but they vow to ignore it.
When asked by late-night host James Corden about the relationship between Gregory and Janine, Tyler James Williams said:
Their relationship has been compared to that of Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly from The Office, which shares a similar mockumentary presentation style with Abbott Elementary. They officially begin dating during the fourth season premiere. In the fifth season, Gregory moves into Janine's apartment; also in the fifth season, the characters briefly fall out with one another and then reconcile.
Gregory Eddie
Gregory Thompson Eddie is the co-lead of the series and a substitute, later a full-time first grade teacher at Abbott. Gregory moves to Philadelphia from Baltimore in the first episode. Gregory harbors a crush on Janine, however at first he hides it well. When he arrives at Abbott during the pilot episode, Gregory reveals that he originally applied to be the school's principal and is upset that Ava was hired over him, since she is unqualified.
In the first season, Gregory is hired as a substitute teacher for Tina. He immediately befriends Janine, who teaches a class beside his. Gregory receives a phone call from his unsupportive father (portrayed by Orlando Jones) who tells him that he should leave his career of teaching and pursue a more stable career with him as a gardener. He also meets Barbara's daughter Taylor, whom he begins dating. He applies to be a full-time teacher in the season finale, he ultimately gets the job because the school is unable to find another replacement for Tina. During the second season, Gregory begins his first year at Abbott as a full-time teacher and continues to date Taylor; however later, Taylor breaks up with him. Following his breakup with Taylor, Gregory begins dating Amber, the parent of a student in Janine's class much to her unspoken jealousy. After his breakup with Amber, Gregory confesses his feelings for Janine, who reciprocates them but argues that they should remain friends for the time being. In the following seasons, their relationship continues to develop. In season 4, after Ava is fired by the district, Gregory becomes the interim principal. However, Gregory struggles in this position due to his awkwardness in social interactions. In addition, Gregory also shows obsession with planning and does not likes many common food items like pizza. Creator Quinta Brunson has stated that Gregory's palate was modelled on the real-life scenario of one of their crew writers, Brian Rubenstein, who reportedly hated food itself, and from Tyler himself, who has confessed that he did not like chocolate. In season 5, Gregory moves into Janine's apartment as her live-in partner, but soon break up with one another due to disagreements over their plans for spending during the holidays. At the end of the season, however, they reconcile, and Gregory purchases an engagement ring. In the final episode of season 5, Ava promotes Gregory to the position of assistant principal.
Ava Coleman
Ava Eva Coleman is the school's chaotic, insensitive, grossly incompetent, careless, narcissistic, and tone-deaf principal. She also harbors a casual sexual attraction to Gregory, which she does not hide well; this makes him uncomfortable. She is also an avid user of social media and often focuses on it rather than her responsibilities as principal. Apart from being the school principal, she also runs a side business selling clothing online (initially through her website, but now through social media), hence keeps a cabinet filled with her wares in her office chamber.
The first season showcases Ava's carelessness and antics on full display. She spends her entire time doing livestreaming on Instagram, making TikTok videos, watching Love Island and bullying the staff, especially Janine. During the pilot episode, it is revealed that Ava obtained her job as principal after blackmailing the superintendent, whom she caught cheating on his wife. However, the superintendent later visits Abbott and tells Ava that he has divorced his wife and is now married to the woman he was caught with by Ava, and that she is at risk of losing her job. In the penultimate episode of the first season, Ava wins over the district and the superintendent, and keeps her job. Following her successful presentation to the district, Ava continues her normal antics in the second season, although as the season progresses, it becomes clear that she is engaging with the job more and that she is developing skills as a principal. She also becomes more compassionate towards children, giving them money for lunches and clothes and organizing a fundraising campaign for the school by arranging students to sell candy at the local mall, a sharp contrast from the first season, where she pilfered the funds sent by the district board instead of providing the staff with necessary items. However, she gets into an argument with Barbara after the latter is publicly berated by her fellow churchgoer (who also happened to be a district board member) who was overcharged by a student acting upon Ava's instructions. Ava defends her amoral advice by describing her own struggles with poverty and stating that the kid in question was in desperate need of money due to his family's financial strain. After substituting for Janine when she is out sick, and sitting in on Jacob's class to investigate allegations of racism against him, Ava realizes that she actually likes her job and learning and decides to start studying for the principal's certification she should have had to get the job in the first place. In season 3, she references having attended Harvard University. It is eventually revealed that she did not attend the university, but used their Wi-Fi to complete an online course in Master of Education. After the course, her personality is temporarily changed, focusing more on supervision and principal responsibilities; staff are relieved when she returns to her usual apathy. Ava also starts to show more care and compassion for her staff, and she starts supporting them in their activities and personal lives. In season 4, she blackmails Miles Nathaniel in order to procure computers for the impoverished school. At the end of the season, the district authorities find out about Ava's acceptance of the bribed computers and fire her, but the staff and students of Abbott, alongside the parents and the local community, rally behind her, resulting in her reinstatement as principal.