After a shocking breakup in the “Abbott Elementary” Season 3 premiere, Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) was plunged into the world of casual dating and sex — a storyline that prompted an apology from creator and star Quinta Brunson.
“I had no conversation with Quinta, because she had been gone … [and] we worked on opposite days, so I didn’t really see her,” Walter told TheWrap. “After we shot the scene … she goes, ‘I hope you didn’t mind that we turned you into kind of a hoe,’ and I really meant when I said ‘no, that’s funny.’”
Heading into the ABC comedy’s third season — which was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes — Walter said Brunson didn’t want viewers to be too comfortable with the status quo, leading her to write in a sudden split between Melissa and her longtime boyfriend, Gary (Bruno Amato).