'Abbott Elementary' star Chris Perfetti talks about the "new ears" happening for each character, how Quinta Bronson has reacted to fan response and more at the SAG Awards.
00:00What has the fan response been like for you so far for the new season of Abbott Elementary?
00:05I try to insulate myself. I try to hibernate while we're shooting so as not to get too influenced by what the chatter is.
00:14But Quinta seems very happy and she's somebody who I know is very plugged in, so I'm going to take that as a good sign.
00:22Mostly the people that I've talked to in person are just so glad that we're back and have voiced that it feels like it's been a while.
00:29And it feels to me like it's been a while and so I'll just say that I second their opinion.
00:36It feels really good. It feels like home. It feels like I'm with my family again and we're doing what we do best.
00:43So I'm very happy.
00:45And it feels like there's lots of new eras happening this season for characters.
00:49For Ava, for Janine, for Jacob. Are we going to see him in a new era at all? What can we expect?
00:54I think so. I think Quinta has been really smart about trying to represent these people as fully human.
01:02And so we're going to kind of see the facets of them that we haven't seen yet.
01:06And so Jacob gets to win a bit this year, which I think is fun.
01:10I think it's sort of a tenet of this character that he's always sort of falling on his face and tripping over his words.
01:15And that is not going to change overnight.
01:18But I'm really interested in what it means when Jacob gets what he wants and when he's sort of out of his comfort zone in a different way.
01:27And so I really think we get to explore that this year.
01:30And that said, we kind of get to do that with every character.
01:33Do we think this season, I know this is always the hottest question, will we see Janine and Gregory finally get together?
01:39Maybe? Or do we have to wait until season 10, 20?
01:43Oh, man. You saying season 10 just made me sweat a little bit.
01:51What's amazing about this question is I think you're going to be very happy with how the season goes.
01:57But we make the show so quickly that I'm often learning about the show in real time with you.
02:02So I sort of know where we're going.
02:04But, you know, the great thing about making the show in real time is we can sort of on a dime change our ideas.
02:13And sort of based off of what's going on in the world or what's going on with the people that we're making it with and for, we can sort of change our minds.
02:20So I guess anything's possible.
02:22But I'm very excited about where we're headed.
02:25And we're here at the SAG Awards tonight.
02:28When was the first time someone asked you what your job was and you replied, I'm an actor?
02:32Oh, man. I feel like I have trouble still doing that to this day.
02:37But, yeah. Is that the answer?
02:42The answer is I still don't tell people I'm an actor.
02:45The answer is right now. This is the first time.
02:47Today.
02:49And, of course, with the SAG Afterstrike happening last year, does it feel like there's a renewed energy here tonight at the SAG Awards compared to last year?
02:56I think so.
02:57I think I'll also say there's something very heavy and not a negative sense about the energy in this room and about today.
03:09It feels like a party and like a sort of culling together of our people.
03:17We had a wild year and here we are still celebrating and we have a lot to celebrate.
03:23And so, yeah, it's kind of emotional that we're all kind of like dressing up and carrying on as usual.
03:32It's a good feeling.
03:35What's the biggest lesson you feel you learned during the SAG Afterstrike and how has it impacted you in your return to work?
03:40I want to say really what it did is it just sort of renewed my faith in the power of people organized together.
03:53It sort of makes one, you know, wax perhaps negatively about the country and, you know, what it means to live in a country that is, this is getting way too serious.
04:11But I guess just like it feels like we've been here before and we will be here again.
04:16And so sometimes I feel like when you're when you're in these battles, it's it can be sort of depressing because it's like, haven't we haven't we figured this out yet?
04:25But the first thing you asked me was a lesson you learned and how it's impacted you.
04:31I guess what it did more than anything is it just sort of extended and compounded and concentrated the relief that I feel to have a job and to come back to this job in particular that I love so much.
04:43I didn't realize it until we were all back on set just how grateful I am and and how much I love these people and miss them.
04:52And and and and it also sort of solidified the fact that this business and any any endeavor as an artist is a roller coaster and the strikes were certainly that and and what a roller coaster it was.
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