‘Abbott Elementary’ Star Tyler James Williams Talks Season 5 Finale

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Wednesday night’s two-part finale of Abbott Elementary Season 5.

Abbott Elementary closed its fifth season Wednesday night with a two-part episode that finally got to the bottom of Janine and Gregory’s breakup and hinted a major milestone is on the horizon for the couple.

The two-parter began with Janine and Gregory still separated, though their coworkers have grown quite exhausted of their relationship woes. They quickly plot ways to get the couple to resolve their issue, and Ava (Janelle James) has the perfect opportunity: Sticking them on the same tasks for A.V.A. Fest. The forced proximity does eventually move the needle, but it takes a few tries as Janine and Gregory try to understand each other’s gripes with the vacation plans.

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As was obvious to observers much earlier, the fight was really never about how to get to the Outer Banks. It was about something much deeper than that.

“[Gregory]’s talking about spending habits and patterns as it relates to their life 5 to 10 years from now,” Tyler James Williams told Deadline. “She’s talking about something that’s happening in this moment, and he can’t hear her and she can’t hear him.”

After A.V.A. Fest brings the couple back together in the penultimate episode, they are back on solid ground going into the finale as the teachers travel to an educational conference in Miami for the finale. As Williams says, Gregory’s anxieties crystallize in the final moments of the episode when he reveals to O’Shon (Matthew Law) that he’s thinking about proposing to Janine.

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In the interview below, Williams unpacks Janine and Gregory’s communication breakdown, the character growth that came from it and the future of the sitcom’s beloved relationship.

DEADLINE: I talked to Quinta when the breakup episode aired, so I wanted to start by asking just how you viewed this development in their relationship when you read the scripts.

TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS: I really liked it. I think one of the things that I had been waiting for…it was kind of sunshine and roses since they got together. You know what I mean? It was all very smooth and great. So I was waiting for ‘Okay, so where’s the conflict coming from?’ Because ultimately, when things are great, you’re not growing. You’re just kind of existing. So when it came up that it was a conversation ultimately about the future that was kind of wrapped in this one scenario about travel, that’s the type of stuff that I think really overwhelms Gregory. I love putting them in situations where they’re forced to be more than what they already are, because that’s when the character actually grows season to season. I think having a big arc of theirs that requires them to grow is really important.

DEADLINE: What do you think that this conflict illuminated about them as individuals that they really needed to work through?

WILLIAMS: Their communication styles. I think that’s a huge one for most couples. Just by being raised by different people. It was one of those scripts that, as I was reading it, I have to read it from two points of perspectives: Being in Gregory’s body, but then also breaking it down as an actor outside of it. I remember reading and going, ‘Y’all, this isn’t that deep.’ But stepping inside of their body, it’s like ‘No, but for you, it is. You’re missing each other here.’ I think the crux of what they were missing, at least from Gregory’s side, is that he was talking about a bigger, grander plan, right? He’s talking about: What does life look like for us down the line? We see that as we’re going into the finale of what he’s been thinking about. He’s talking about spending habits and patterns as it relates to their life 5 to 10 years from now. She’s talking about something that’s happening in this moment, and he can’t hear her and she can’t hear him. But I think that’s the biggest thing. They need to get on the same page and, I think, mature and understand that one fight doesn’t mean walk away. Sometimes it’s good to just walk away from the fight itself and take a break, but the breakup was — as much as it was great to perform — somewhere in my head as an adult who’s been in relationships going like, ‘Y’all…’

DEADLINE: Like, this is easy mode.

WILLIAMS: I think it’s great we have Barbara and them to address that. You know what I mean? At the same time, it’s like, ‘Come on, kids.’

DEADLINE: I was curious if you could talk a bit about exploring that reconciliation and what you think that will do for these characters moving forward into Season 6?

WILLIAMS: I love that it wasn’t linear. I love that they had to take multiple shots at reconciling and, as it is typically in real life, it’s not just a ‘Oh, I love you.’ ‘I love you.’ And it’s over. We have to get back to the point of this and figure it out. I mean, Gregory has a line in the finale, it was like ‘We just went through this big fight, and it’s made us stronger.’ I think this is one of the few times where it’s not just words on the page that we saw it as an audience. We saw it make them stronger. We saw them have to go back to the drawing board a few times and try to have this conversation again. I’m looking forward to tracking that through in [Season] 6. I think what happens with a lot of couples is, after you have a big testing period of communication, you’ll now watch somebody be hyper [aware] — ‘I’m asking you this because this is could lead to that and that.’ So I’m looking forward to seeing how those communication styles and their new tools serve them, but then I don’t think the anxiety that comes with an unstable world is going to leave Gregory. He’s very aware of how hard it is to be in a relationship and have a future in today’s world.

DEADLINE: I was going to say it sounds like Gregory might be predisposed to some of those tendencies… just more rigid, maybe, in some scenarios than he needs to be.

WILLIAMS: I think also it tracks back through to this is somebody who, at a very young age, lost his mom, which based on what we know from what his dad has said and what his mother provided in the household, there must have been a rigidity that had to set in to compensate for the lack of another parent. It’s not like it started off that way. You thought she was going to be here, and then she wasn’t. I think he is somebody who looks at the worst case scenario when it comes to domestic life, because that hit him at nine [years old]. You know what I mean? That’s something that will track through for the rest of your life. You can’t just go, ‘Hopefully this will all be okay.’ What if the bottom falls out and mom dies? I think that’s he’s trying to make things safe, and this is the way that he knows how to, through discipline. I think I hold a different perspective than I think a lot of people do with that argument of he was being rigid to just be rigid. I think there’s something that he’s trying to protect. There’s something that he feels is unsafe about this, and he knows that ultimately the buck will stop with him if it goes that way, and he is trying to create a safe space for the relationship ultimately.

DEADLINE: I really like that point, and I feel like it is part of the reason the Abbott is so smart, because there is so much depth to it. I’m curious how you feel playing this character over five seasons has helped you navigate these types of character arcs more adeptly, especially working in a network comedy where you know you might not be able to get as dramatic when exploring these topics as some other shows?

WILLIAMS: This is the reason why I love TV. I’ve done film here and there, but my preferred medium of storytelling is television, because, to me, it reflects real life. It’s hard to track change through somebody in an hour and a half as an actor, but showing you that change over years as if they’re a friend that you would know and you’ve watched them grow is kind of my preferred way of doing that. I think regardless of if it’s comedic or dramatic, it still gets prepped the same way. I don’t think a comedic character is a shallower character. I think there’s still just as much depth there, and we just have a longer period of time to show that. That, to me, is an advantage, not a disadvantage. I think you can have these big blowout dramatic scenes that force the audience to see a character grow, but I think, five years in, you can look at Gregory and understand how far it is he’s come to just have this conversation while also being simultaneously disappointed in the breakdown in communication, but then not giving up on him either, and knowing that he’s going to get there.

That’s what TV does well to me, and also what comedy does well, because it’s not all dark. You’re gonna laugh your way through this episode, and then at the end of it, you’re gonna have to have a real conversation. That, to me, is what not only Abbott does well, but I think what gets lost a lot about the network comedy in history. It’s always been — you look at Good Times, you look at All In The Family. We all had these [shows] where you laughed your way through and then you had a real conversation with characters that you learn to love, like real people.

DEADLINE: I love that this season you have all gotten out of the school a little bit more, and you’re playing with the setting. You were teaching in an abandoned mall earlier this season. The characters are in Miami for these episodes. What’s it been like to kind of get out of the school this season and explore how these characters would act in all of these different environments?

WILLIAMS: I love it. I think it speaks to the storytelling a lot. I think what goes into any show, when you’re thinking about it, is like the ‘why now’? What’s interesting with our show is we’re understanding why the documentary crew, why we’re seeing this, right? They’re finding the stories of these people interesting, and it started off as a school, but now we’re kind of in this other space where it’s like, ‘No, there’s some really interesting thing happening with these people now.’ So I love that we can leave and see them in different scenarios.There’s a part of Janine and Gregory you wouldn’t get or even understand if we took out all of the club scenes. The club scenes from Season 2, the club scenes from now, the bar scene is…there’s so much context we got for them. So I think the more we can do that when it makes sense —not just throwing them somewhere, like the mall was a perfect example of that — it just tests all of their resolve in a different way that we learn so much more about them. I think anytime we can do that, it’s a treat.

DEADLINE: Do you feel like as you’ve stepped behind the camera to direct as well it’s helped you understand the show even better?

WILLIAMS: Yeah, yeah. I think, at this point in my career, that’s what keeps me creatively growing. I think I’ve played long term roles on shows quite a bit and know what that work is, but I think getting your hands dirty on multiple aspects of the storytelling is what keeps me excited. I think in a lot of ways, the mall being a perfect example of that, of not only do we have to work in a new space, but how do all of these characters exist in this space? How does Gregory exist in this space? It’s multiple layers to it. I look forward to doing more of that in the future. I’ve dedicated so much of my life to TV. This is my medium. This is my art form. So, I’m definitely going to be finding more opportunities to do that and understand, I guess, not only the inner workings of this show, but what it takes to make something like this last this long behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera.

DEADLINE: I was a little concerned the season might end and they’d still be be fighting! They reconcile though, and Gregory hints he might be ready to propose soon. What excites you about that approaching milestone for them?

WILLIAMS: I think that was the thing that I was looking for when that script dropped. That’s what the writers are so brilliant with. That’s why he’s arguing about money. He’s thinking about the next step. He’s trying to figure out how he’s going to actually pay for a ring [in] the conversation with O’Shon. I think Season 6 is very interesting, because Gregory is definitely a man who wants his house in order, and I think we’re going to see a lot of him trying to get his house in order. After having that conversation, we know that when Gregory is talking about doing something seriously that at this point, it’s no surprise that neuroticism of how he’s going to do that is going to come out full force, especially with a decision like this that he’s never made before. It just gives you a nice tease. How is he going to figure this out? How is he going to figure out how to be with her in a way that we all know that it works, but that works in his head? It just gives me something else to prepare for going into the next season.

DEADLINE: Well, I’m really looking forward to it, and I really loved the last two episodes, so I’m excited for this story to go up. Thank you so much for making some time for me. Is there anything you think I missed, or anything else that you wanted to add.

WILLIAMS: No, because if you keep asking questions, then we’ll get into stuff that I can’t talk about yet.