As “Abbott Elementary” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” shoot their upcoming crossover episode, “Abbott” coshowrunner and EP Patrick Schumacker teased there are some filmed scenes that will “probably never make it to ABC.”
“When we were shooting last week, Rob [McElhenney] had this improv in this one scene with Ava that I did not know was … coming; he just thought about it extemporaneously,” Schumacker told TheWrap, adding that the scene likely wouldn’t pass broadcast TV standards and practices.
“[It] made me spit out my coffee, and then wish that we had just an episode that was like a gag reel of all the stuff that we can’t use,” he continued. “I hope it exists at some point in time, because it’s so damn funny.”
While coshowrunner and EP Justin Halpern joked that some crossover episodes are “born out of some marketing person’s gross desire for synergy,” the “Abbott” and “Always Sunny” crossover, airing sometime in Season 4, was inspired by conversations between each show’s dual creator and stars, Quinta Brunson and McElhenney himself, whom Halpern noted see each other frequently at industry events.
“When Quinta first brought it to me and Pat, I was like, ‘I don’t know how the f—k this is going to work … how are we going to marry these two tones but each show stay true to their own show?’” Halpern said. “It was incredibly fun to do.”
Schumacker added that he wasn’t sure how the two shows’ tones would butt up against each other, but noted that “Abbott Elementary” has historically had guest stars that feel more “in the tone of ‘Sunny’” that he described as “gonzo” or “out there.”
“When we started rolling, we filmed a scene with Charlie and I was like, ‘Oh, this, this actually feels kind of exactly right,’ ” Schumacker said. “It didn’t throw me.”
Marrying the tones of the series was just one hurdle in the crossover, with scheduling conflicts prompting the team to shoot it “piecemeal” in what Schumacker describes as “a real puzzle.”
“We’re not quite done filming it, and that’s just due to cast availability and where ‘Sunny’ is in their upcoming 17th season,” Schumacker said just days before the Season 4 premiere of “Abbott.” “Their writers’ room is going, they’re about to start production; Kaitlyn Olson’s on ‘High Potential,’ Glenn [Howerton] is in New York doing ‘Sirens’ for Netflix.”
While Schumacker and Halpern kept the plot of the crossover episode under wraps, Schumacker noted the “Sunny” team was “game for anything” as the writers began thinking of ways to incorporate the “Sunny” cast into the walls of Abbott Elementary.
“Rob and Charlie came in the writers’ room and they were there with us for a day, really working on it with the whole writing staff … and it was such a nice experience going back and forth with them,” Halpern said. “All of their wants were for us to make the episode we wanted to make and, conversely, for them, we wanted their episode to be the episode they wanted to make.”
With Halpern aware that collaboration only comes “with people who write and love writing and want it to work,” he called the crossover a “unique once in our career kind of opportunity.”
“Abbott Elementary” Season 4 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
