Abbott Elementary government producer Patrick Schumaker reveals that one character nearly had a shared backstory with a It's all the time sunny in Philadelphia mainstay. The ABC sitcom specializing in the trials and tribulations of lecturers at a Philadelphia public college started airing its fourth season in October 2024 and returned from a quick hiatus with the primary a part of a crossover with It's all the time sunny. In "Volunteers", Abbott welcomes the primary characters of It's all the time sunny in Philadelphia to the varsity as educating assistants to pay a neighborhood service price.
After the screening of "Volunteers", Schumaker revealed to the IndieWire that earlier concepts for the It's all the time sunny in Philadelphia crossover featured a shared historical past between two fundamental characters. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) and Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito) had been initially meant to have a connection which dates again to their college days, the place the duo would have been rivals to win Shadynasty's affection. Shadynasty first appeared in It's all the time sunny Season 7 as an ex-girlfriend of Frank within the Nineteen Sixties. Schumaker stated:
At one level we acquired an entire backstory between Frank and Mr. Johnson that they knew one another. It was that they studied collectively in highschool. They dated the identical girl who was a canon character on 'Sunny,' this Shadynasty character. That ended up disappearing due to, 'Hey, we will't inform this story. Possibly we'll save that for an additional time. 21 and a half minutes shouldn't be numerous time to inform a narrative.
We had been very cautious, however we nonetheless managed to incorporate some issues that had been maybe just a little excessive for a typical 'Abbott' episode. The story of Johnson, Gregory and Frank, for instance, isn't one thing you'd see in a typical 'Abbott' episode, with Frank being caught within the entice lined in urine-soaked fur. We managed to do that flippantly.
What the story of Abbott Elementary and It's All the time Sunny's Minimize might have meant for each sequence
Every sequence has contradictory timelines
Whereas it might have offered numerous humor, the 2 reveals' established continuity for Mr. Johnson and Frank most likely wouldn't have allowed this storyline to work. Abbott Elementary offered a number of hilarious and fully unconnected particulars about Mr. Johnson's origins, and so they point out He's not precisely the identical age as Frank. This implies Johnson most likely wouldn't have been at school when Frank's romance with Shadynasty started within the '60s, earlier than his descent into a lifetime of shady enterprise and prison exercise.
As such, the implementation of Johnson and Frank's shared historical past with Shadynasty would have meant that one character's life would have obtained a significant retcon. Nevertheless, as the thought is an extremely early idea, the main points might have been refined to swimsuit each characters' pasts, whether or not it's a change in time or character. Nevertheless, with Schumaker stating that the thought was put aside, the thought shouldn't be canon to both present presently. Even so, it reveals how deeply the writers of each Abbott Elementary and It's all the time sunny had been dedicated to connecting their reveals.
Our Tackle Abbott Elementary and It's All the time Sunny's Minimize Backstory
Nice care was taken to mix the 2 packages
Though this offered the Abbott Elementary episode with a enjoyable connection to It's all the time sunny in Philadelphiaprevious, it's plain that the choice would have left the latter's followers scratching their heads. It's a reference that might solely please those that know It's all the time sunny. As such, it's greatest that the primary crossover episode chooses to give attention to Mr. Johnson and Frank's battle with the raccoons over a shared historical past.
Plus, it's clear that the creatives on each sequence took care to make sure that the crossover stayed true to every character regardless of the drastically totally different tones of each reveals. This included centering Charlie's (Charlie Day) arc on his incapacity to learn and Dennis' (Glen Howerton) unwillingness to look in documentary format, making it unlikely that any contradictions would make it via the writing course of. Nevertheless, with Abbott Elementarythe movie crew lacking from the second crossover that may air on It's all the time sunny in Philadelphia season 17, there might nonetheless be a chance to see the characters in a brand new mild.
Supply: IndieWire