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How ‘Abbott Elementary’ Pulled Off That Perfect Gritty Cameo

Warning: Spoilers for Abbott Elementary‘s Season 2 premiere ahead.

Abbott Elementary gets an A++ for kicking off its second season with an absolutely flawless cameo: America’s favorite orange furball, Gritty.

The sassy Philadelphia Flyers mascot who sent the internet into a frenzy in 2018, then captured all his haters’ hearts, paid a visit to Willard R. Abbott Public School as a favor to the coolest second grade teacher around, Janine Teagues (creator Quinta Brunson).

“Quinta herself is a Philadelphia legend. And it just felt right for two local legends to come together and join forces,” Abbott Elementary‘s executive producer Patrick Schumacker explained in a phone interview with Decider.

In the Season 2 premiere, “Development Day,” Janine tells her fellow teachers that after making many phone calls and pretending to slip on a beer can at the Flyers arena, she booked “the only celebrity that matters” to surprise the kids on their first day of school. Unfortunately, because Janine is belatedly dealing with her Season 1 breakup from Tariq (Zack Fox), she gave Gritty the wrong date. Instead of the kids’ first day, the meme-able mascot shows up on Development Day and has no choice but to hang out with our favorite Philly educators.

To celebrate the start of Season 2, Schumacker spoke to Decider about how Abbott Elementary pulled off that iconic Gritty cameo, the delightful season premiere, and his dream guest star for the show.

'Abbott Elementary' Cast Feat Gritty
Photo: ABC / Scott Everett White

Decider: It was so nice not only reacquainting myself with these characters and this world in the Season 2 premiere, but really feeling like they never left. Abbott is as heartfelt, sharp, and joyous as ever. And the Gritty cameo was a perfect way to kick off the season. How did this perfect Philly cameo come about?

Patrick Schumacker: Well, I think it’s fair to say that Quinta herself is is a Philadelphia legend.

She’s a star! She’s a hometown hero!

Exactly. And it just felt right for two local legends to come together and join forces. We actually tried to get Gritty in Season 1 of the show, I believe for the pilot. I want to say it was for an early episode, if not the pilot itself, and Gritty was unfortunately, but expectedly, engaged with another event. Because obviously, he’s very in demand around here. And so the timing just didn’t work out. But we always had Gritty on our sort of vision board of potential guest stars. Obviously the show is set in Philly, and as you can see from Season 1 — this tradition continues in Season 2 — we want to kind of do as much Philly deep-diving as we can and just populate the show with as much authentic Philly-ness as possible. So yeah, we wanted to kick Season 2 off with a real bang and it felt like Gritty was it. He was the right cameo to plug in there, especially given given the storyline of Janine’s life kind of melting and Gritty himself being a little bit of a mischievous agent of chaos. It felt dramatically right for him to show up, but then he perhaps unexpectedly becomes a source of calm and centering for Janine with one of his hugs.

Quinta Brunson and Gritty on 'Abbott Elementary'
Photo: ABC / Scott Everett White

He looks like such a great hugger. I also heard that you’re a huge hockey fan, and since Quinta is from Philly I’m wondering how exciting this cameo was for you all? What was it like having Gritty on set?

Oh my god. So, it was so exciting. It truly was like having the President of the United States show up on set. It was maybe a little less of an entourage, because Gritty can kind of handle himself. And everybody loves Gritty, so it was it was a real thrill. I mean, you can’t help but stare at him. Like, I found myself being embarrassed staring at him. I don’t know if he could see me back, because his eyes kind of move in all different directions. But yeah, it was phenomenal. I mean, everybody was just so eager to snap selfies with him afterwards, and he was more than happy to oblige even though we were filming in what seemed like 100 degree weather in LA. I felt for for Gritty under all that hair — all that unventilated hair. But he was a trooper. He was a sport. And an incredible actor to boot, a very giving scene partner.

Speaking of Gritty being a giving scene partner, in this episode Jacob reveals he learned a little ASL when he was abroad, and it turns out he’s the only one who really understands Gritty. Jacob starts translating his gestures to all the teachers, and I thought this was such a masterful overlap of storylines. I’m curious if one informed the other. Did you know you had Gritty, so you came up with Jacob teaching ASL? Or was it a happy accident that they worked together so perfectly?

You nailed it with happy accident.

Oh my gosh. I can’t believe that!

Yeah, it was serendipitous. And, you know, the best jokes come from just extemporaneous riffing in the writers’ room or on set or whatnot. I mean this was baked into the script ahead of time, but it was something that just came up organically in the writers’ room, where it was just like, “Well, yeah. Of course Jacob is gonna want to show off.” Obviously Gritty is not using ASL, but Jacob would take it upon himself to at least demonstrate his skills however best he can and be Gritty’s unofficial translator. But yeah, that was just kind of an extemporaneous thing that came up in the writers’ room.

The 'Abbott Elementary' cast with Gritty
Photo: ABC/Scott Everett White

Amazing. I also found it hilariously fitting that Gregory doesn’t get Gritty initially. Of course by the end of the episode he has this change of heart, but seeing how this man doesn’t like pizza, was it just inevitable that he would also hate on a mascot that everyone else loves?

That’s right. I mean, I feel like Gregory is sort of consummate contrarian in our group of teachers. But he’s a softie on the inside. He always kind of comes around at the end of the day, and I think it was important for Quinta and us to demonstrate that Gritty is undeniable in his cuteness and likability, and even the most hardened armor will eventually crack under the weight of Gritty’s awesomeness. There was the tag of that episode, when Gregory is having a sort of a standoff with Gritty. And our tags are limited to about 30 seconds, but I could have watched [forever]. There’s that profile shot of them looking like to gunslingers and Gritty using that green — well I think they’re interchangeable — but he had a green belly button on, his outtie. And I became intimately acquainted with that belly button. [Laughs]

I love when Gritty is picking the belly button and Ava screams, “Celebrities! They’re just like us!”

[Laughs] That’s right. That’s right. And the squeaks. And Gritty is actually shockingly agile given his frame. You can’t help but just dance with him. So it was pretty special.

TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS and GRITTY in 'Abbott Elementary'
Photo: ABC / Scott Everett White

So Gritty is great, but unfortunately he comes to school on the wrong day. To make up for that, Mr. Johnson dresses as the bush mascot from Eddie’s Lawn and Care. How did you decide on a second mascot for this episode?

In the episode, Gregory is talking about how his dad has this lawn care company with a mascot that’s logical. It’s like the logical counterpoint to the the absurdity and amorphous nature of Gritty. And therefore we were like, we have to see that. So that’s what led to it. I think Gregory is really pragmatic. And that trickles down from his dad. And that pragmatism is one of the reasons that he doesn’t necessarily understand what Gritty is. [Laughs] But that informed the basic design of the mascot costume from Eddie’s Lawn and Care. Our art department came up with the literal design, and I think Mr. Johnson gives Gritty a run for his money.

Oh definitely. Gritty’s about to have a very stressful night of imposter syndrome.

[Laughs] Real rough.

So this is a very sports-adjacent episode. In addition to Gritty, it starts off with Ava casually hosting an Eagles tailgate in the parking lot. I know sports are such a beloved part of Philly’s community, and I feel like I saw Quinta at an Eagles game literally last night on Instagram. Do you think there are more Philly sports crossovers in Abbott‘s future?

She was there last night, that’s right. I will say, without giving away any real spoilers, yes. I think emphatically yes. That’s just kind of baked into the show at this point.

JANELLE JAMES in ‘Abbott Elementary’
Photo: ABC / Scott Everett White

And I know the show has some impressive guest stars lined up for Season 2, including Leslie Odom Jr., Lauren Weedman, and Keyla Monterroso Mejia. Do you or the team have a dream Philly cameo aside from Gritty, or any dream cameo? I honestly think anyone, including the actual President of the United States, would want to be a part of this show.

Honestly, given the amount of interest that Quinta has received specifically from absolute A-listers, it would not shock me if the president himself one day called her up personally and expressed interest.

[Laughs] And came to the school to forgive Jacob’s student loans personally.

[Laughs] I mean, okay, so I’m a native St. Louisan. I’m a Blues fan. So I’m not necessarily the best person or the most insider person to answer this question. But as an outsider, I wouldn’t mind seeing a cameo from Questlove.

Oh, an iconic choice.

Now, that’s not something that we’ve necessarily talked about in the room. I’m just putting it out there.

Well they’re gonna find out now.

Let’s see what happens!

This is it. We’re manifesting with this article. Questlove on Abbott.

Exactly.

New episodes of Abbott Elementary air Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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