‘Abbott Elementary’ star Janelle James on Ava’s ‘savviness’: She ‘gets stuff done because she does it in an unorthodox way’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
On “Abbott Elementary,” Ava Coleman (Janelle James), the hilariously chaotic principal of the show’s titular underfunded public school, has acquired a reputation for being, well, bad at her job. And while there’s certainly some justification to that reputation — after all, she’s done everything from make TikTok videos during school hours to misuse school funds — Season 3 of the Emmy-winning ABC sitcom shows just how underestimated Ava really is by her coworkers — and perhaps also by some of the show’s viewers.
“I feel like this evolution has been building since Season 1,” James says of Ava stepping into her power in Season 3 during a recent webchat with Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “I feel like the people who are really paying attention, or have maybe rewatched the show, are coming away with a different idea of her… The idea that she is only for herself and doesn’t do anything for the kids or is, like, the villain has maybe changed. And it’s been great. I think she’s, so far, the most layered character on the show. She’s had a true arc. And it continues to be a joy to play her.”
Even though her tactics are oftentimes questionable, to say the least, Ava always ends up getting the job done — and according to James, that’s due to the character’s “savviness.” “Because she’s been around, she knows that it’s not that things won’t get done, it’s that things won’t get done if you try to follow the rules,” she explains. “I feel like [Quinta Brunson‘s] Janine was realizing that over at the [Philadelphia school] district, and [Sheryl Lee Ralph‘s] Barbara seems to know it from [the] jump — she just doesn’t want anything to change, because it never does. And Ava gets stuff done because she does it in an unorthodox way… I feel like she’s very savvy, and she’s a hustler.”
Change, however, befalls Abbott at the beginning of Season 3, as Ava begins taking her principal duties more seriously after completing her education degree over the summer break and learning “what it actually takes” to do her job. As a result, she, among other things, cancels the teacher’s free periods and prohibits them from going off-campus for lunch — very much to their dismay. “These are the things that were [put] in place by the school district and [describe] how ‘a principal is supposed to act’ and what everyone was thinking they wanted,” James underlines. “And [Ava]’s like, ‘Okay, I’ll do that!’ And then they all found, just as she has always been saying, ‘That’s not fun. That’s not how you get things done. And this principal figure standing in the way of how this school runs ends up not being good for the children and the school.'”
After several failed attempts, the Abbott staff gets Ava to return to her old ways by blasting Juvenile‘s “Back That Azz Up” in the school gym. In one of the show’s most memorable moments to date, Ava runs into the gym and jubilantly dances to the song, shedding her stricter persona as quickly as she put it on.
“They made it almost look like a music video — you know, [the cameraman]’s swirling around me. And, as you know, 30 seconds of television is three hours of filming, so I danced to that song in many ways,” James says of filming the scene. “What [is] going through my head first is always, ‘Is this funny?’ — because that’s my first goal. And then, ‘Is this family-friendly?’ Like, keeping this PG. And also, I know this is gonna live on the internet forever, [so] like, ‘How do I look?’ Like, I can’t look like I’ve been dancing for three hours! I’m proud of that day and that scene, and even the entering of the gym — I ran into that gym maybe 20 times, in heels. But I knew it would be, like, as the kids say, ‘iconic’ in the end… That was something that I hadn’t done before — and something this character hadn’t done before.”
Ava has often been likened to a character from another mockumentary sitcom and workplace comedy, “The Office’s” Michael Scott (Steve Carell), the inept, unprofessional regional manager of a paper supply company — but James doesn’t necessarily agree with that comparison. “He’s a little more simple-minded than Ava is,” the Emmy-nominated actor opines. “I always say [Ava] is street-smart, like an A-plus street-smart, and maybe a B in book learning, and she’s steadily getting up to an A-plus in that as well. She has had to be street-smart and savvy because of her environment. And now that she’s done, that she’s turned her attention to education — I think that’s amazing. I mean, but even since Season 1, we find out she’s a prepper, that she likes sci-fi, that she has varied interests. She always has, like, out-of-the-way facts, where you’re like, ‘What?!’ She knows so much about everything. And so she’s not somebody who is incurious about learning or education.”
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