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‘Abbott Elementary’ Star Tyler James Williams Talks Emmy Nom And Black Representation On TV: “It Feels Like One Of The Most Important Roles Of My Life”

By Destiny Jackson,

30 days ago

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Tyler James Williams has earned his third Emmy nomination for his role as the no nonsense but still gentle first grade teacher Gregory Eddie on ABC’s Abbott Elementary. Last year, he watched as nominations were announced live from the Hudson River in New York, but this year he tells Deadline he was at his home in Los Angeles.

Has he kept his ritualistic approach since his repeat nominations have rolled in, you ask? Keeping cool and calm … maybe a little too calm. “Every year, I try to have a ritual of some kind, because it’s something that as an actor who’s been here for a long time, and it’s been a road getting here, I just like to sit in gratitude for a minute. So, every year, I roll a joint,” the actor said with a laugh. “I find a view and then I wait to see if I get a call from my agent.”

In addition to Williams’ recognition for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Abbott Elementary garnered nine nominations Wednesday morning, including Outstanding Comedy Series for the third consecutive year. Creator and star Quinta Brunson also received an acting nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Here, Williams talks about the significance of Black representation on screen, working with his cast and what makes the platonic and romantic chemistry between Janine and Gregory so relatable.

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DEADLINE: Going into your fourth year of Abbott come this October, are you still learning from your co-workers or is it a pretty well-oiled machine at this point?

TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS: It’s really a combination of both. I think in order to be an effective show, doing 22 episodes of TV, you have to be a well-oiled machine. But we are constantly challenging ourselves to go further and find new things. So, it is constantly a learning experience. I think working with kids in general, it’s always going to be, something’s happening today and something that we didn’t anticipate is going to be happening today, and we have all these little personalities that we’re working with that will keep it fresh and you’re constantly learning how to listen more and just be in the moment. But I think also we’re challenging ourselves as actors and Quinta and the writer’s room are doing a really good job of giving us non complacent things to do. That’s what I think is the beauty of this show; we found a way to keep it fresh, not just for the audience, but for ourselves.

DEADLINE: What do you think people are gravitating to, either in terms of the show or the relationship between Gregory and Janine, which is now at full force come the ending of Season 3.

WILLIAMS: First, I’ll say going into this year [after the strikes] was really difficult for us because we were one of the first shows back after the strike, and we had a truncated season that we had to restructure from what originally was our storyline. And we always plan to tell our stories in 22 episodes, and we had to tell it in 13. So, that was really difficult for us this year, and we weren’t sure if people would take that into account, you know what I mean? We weren’t sure if that was going to be, especially trying to get to the point that we wanted to get to with Janine and Gregory. We had to really finesse some things to make it work in that short timeframe. But I think people are attracted to the fact that these are just really interesting human beings to watch, I believe. I really do.

And I think I would watch Janine and Gregory in a lot of different scenarios outside of the school, inside of the school. And I think that’s what the key to good TV is. If you write compelling stories with compelling characters, you can put them really in whatever scenario you want to, what’s going to bring people in.

DEADLINE: How do you work with Quinta Brunson to develop the relationship between Janine and Gregory? Is there anything you’re having some input on, like in Season 3, we get a lot of jealousy from Gregory, in little silly ways like him wanting to grow a beard or something like that. How are you both coming up with chemistry?

WILLIAMS: It’s a real give and take, especially that moment you mention particularly. She came to me a few weeks beforehand, and was like, we’re going to do this whole growing a beard thing. And I was like, that sounds hilarious. But then there’s moments, like in the last frame of Season 3, where we were talking about that kiss and how we wanted it to feel different from the first one and feel like it was a step in the right direction. When talking to Randall Einhorn, our director — who was also nominated this year, finally, I’m so hyped about that — pulling down the blinds along with the wink and the smile, that came from me. And then Randall was like what if I bring a camera around here?
So a lot of their big moments become a collaborative event between Quinta, myself and Randall. Really on the day, we’ll look at how they’ll be written into a scene, but we’ll then actually find that [special] moment for them. So it’s really nice that it’s three parents to shepherd them through things.

DEADLINE: You’ve spoken quite a bit throughout your journey on this show about the responsibilities of taking on this character and the way he acts. You had that thoughtful statement on social media addressing the internet’s weighty perceptions of Gregory. But, you’re also taking some of that responsibility of playing a Black male educator on TV. In coming this far in your career and being recognized by the industry for this role, can you talk more about remembering the earlier days of this job to this moment now?

WILLIAMS: I remember the first conversation Quinta and I had about this character before we started shooting. And that weight and gravity was something I felt then in that sense of; we have a real opportunity here. And she also saw the same opportunity and wanted it to be approached as such. I think a lot of times people hear network comedy and they think a certain amount of casualness when talking about that role. And there was something about this that we just wanted to come at it differently because we knew how important of an opportunity it was. And then after I saw the pilot for the first time, we had another conversation about it like, OK, we have to go even further now. We have to go deeper. We have to texturize him because this may be one of the only times a character like this in this position exists on television. And that’s really important.

So, it’s something that we’ve talked about every step of the way. Every year we talk about it. Gregory’s growth as a man in Season 3, I was really excited to depict. I was asking myself, can he even get dirty a bit? What does he look like? Jealous? What does he look like when he’s uncomfortable? Because I don’t want to paint him as just this perfect every man because that’s not everybody. So it’s a perpetual conversation. It feels like one of the most important roles of my life. And I think to me above all else, doing him the right way and giving his story justice is my main focus right now.

‘Abbott Elementary’ Star Tyler James Williams Talks Emmy Nom And Black Representation On TV: “It Feels Like One Of The Most Important Roles Of My Life”

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