It’s still early in the TV schedule 2025but the crossover event between Abbott Elementary and It’s always sunny in Philadelphia It already feels like a contender for one of the best comedy episodes this year. Seeing The Gang enter the world of Quinta Brunson’s award-winning comedy definitely makes me agree with my colleagues about the potential focus of sunny crossover episode.
Unfortunately, it seems like one of the best moments where the two worlds could have collided was removed from the ABC half of the equation, and now I’m a little bummed about it. As E.W. spoke with producers Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern about the ninth episode of season 4, “Volunteers,” the Abbott The masterminds shared tons of information about this two-episode story.
That includes Schumacher himself admitting this part of the Frank/Mr. Johnson’s battle of wills is destroyed:
At one point we had a whole backstory between Frank and Mr. Johnson where they knew each other. It was that they went to high school together. They dated the same woman who was a canon character in Sunny. That ended up disappearing just based on, ‘Hey, we can’t tell that story.’ Maybe we’ll save it for another time. 21 and a half minutes is not a lot of time to tell a story.
He story behind the Abbott Elementary cross had already shown that there was mutual admiration between the hit ABC comedy and the legacy FX series. Knowing that Danny Devito and William Stanford Davis would have had more screen time together to fight was already a shame. However, after Patrick Schumacker released these additional details, I think I know where they could have gone with this possible love connection.
Once again, it all comes back to Frank’s love for Shadynasty. While it may not be on most fans’ lists better It’s always sunny in Philadelphia episodesThe fifth episode of season 7, “Frank’s Brother,” seems like it would be the best connection between these two trash talkers; as Mr. Johnson could easily join the list of suitors who wanted her in their lives. While that’s not exactly gospel, it seems like the best opportunity to play with the canon without having to reconfigure too much.
Maybe it’s a good thing this plot point was removed, as people would ask a lot of questions. At the same time, without a definitive answer as to who this secret third party is, it seems like a big mystery is now brewing between these two collections. If these two episodes do well enough, maybe we’ll get a follow-up that answers these questions, and maybe others.
For now, you can enjoy the first half of Abbott Elementary cross with It’s always sunny in Philadelphiaas long as you have an asset Hulu Subscription. We still don’t know when The Gang’s point of view of events will air, but we do know that it’s already filmed and waiting for season 17’s undated debut to drop in 2025.
