The fourth season of Quinta Brunson’s Emmy-winning “Abbott Elementary” is all about Ava Coleman, the incompetent, self-obsessed school principal played by Janelle James. For the first time, viewers get to see a vulnerable side of the attention-grabbing character as she falls in love with IT tech O’Shon (Matthew Law), reconnects with her estranged father (Keith David) and is fired by the school board. She even stops craving the attention of the ubiquitous [fictional] documentary camera crew that captures the Abbott staff’s every move.
Ahead of Season 5, James spoke with the TheWrap about Ava’s evolution and why she’ll never give up her night job.
CAMERA-SHY
“In Season 1, it’s her idea to have all the cameras there. But for this season, I made a decision to step back from it, because this is her showing a different flavor of herself and she’s less hammy than she used to be. This season, more than any other, it feels like eavesdropping. It seems very real and I think the moments that this character has calls for that. It would be weird if all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Ding!’ to the camera. Or if I am to the camera, it’s in a serious way, such as the date episode, when I finally realized I’ve screwed up and I look to the camera. That was less of a hammy look and more of an ‘Are you guys judging me? He’s judging me. Are you also, the viewer, judging me in this moment?’ That was a vulnerable look for Ava.”
UPPING HER GAME
“I think [Keith David] is perfect. I mean, we look alike. I was like, ‘Is that my dad?’ The gravity of what is going on between [our characters] and our relationship, he is bringing it perfectly, and him being a dramatic actor gives me something to work off, to match and rise to the level of. But there’s still comedy in our serious moments — like, she never loses her personality. So a lot of our moments have been very dramatic, and then two seconds later, I’m saying a joke. That’s a challenge that I love, and to be able to hit both of those feelings in such short time has been super pleasurable for me.”
22 EPISODES AND A STAND-UP CAREER
“Oh, [stand-up] makes me happy. It’s a different muscle than acting. I don’t think it’s any different than an actor that goes off and does theater over the summer. I am interested in doing other acting gigs, but unfortunately because our season is so long, a lot of the things that I would have been interested in or have been offered aren’t possible. Stand-up is something that I can always go back to and make sure my comedy muscle is worked out.”
THE LONG GAME
“I’m in it for as long as Quinta wants to be in it, and I know she has other things she wants to do, so I am just going to continue to be thankful that I’m involved in crating such a dynamic character, and that she trusted me with this. Even though I’m on a comedy, Quinta has made it so I am showing all the things that I can do.”
A version of this story first ran in the Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
