It’s still early in the 2025 TV schedule, but the crossover event between Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia already feels like a contender for one of this year’s best comedy episodes. Watching The Gang entering the world of Quinta Brunson’s award winning comedy definitely has me agreeing with my colleagues about the potential focus of Sunny’s crossover episode.
Unfortunately, it appears that one of the best moments where the two worlds could have collided was cut from the ABC half of the equation, and I’m kind of bummed out about it now. As EW spoke with producers Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern about Season 4’s ninth episode, “Volunteers,” the Abbott masterminds shared tons of information about this two-episode storyline.
That includes Schumacher himself admitting to this part of the Frank/Mr. Johnson battle of wills getting trashed:
We did at one point have a whole backstory between Frank and Mr. Johnson that they did know each other. It was that they went to high school together. They dated the same woman who was a canonical character in Sunny. That ended up falling away just as a function of, 'Hey, we can't tell that story. Maybe let's save it for another time.' 21 and a half minutes is not a lot of time to tell a story.
The story behind the Abbott Elementary crossover had already proven there was a mutual admiration between ABC’s successful comedy and FX’s legacy series. Knowing that Danny Devito and William Stanford Davis would have gotten more screentime together to scrap was already a bummer. However, after Patrick Schumacker released these extra details, I think I know where they could have gone with this potential love connection.
Once again, it all comes down to Frank’s love for Shadynasty. While it might not make most fan’s lists of best It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes, Season 7’s fifth episode “Frank’s Brother” feels like it’d be the best connection between these two trash talkers; as Mr. Johnson could very easily join the list of suitors who wanted her in their lives. While that’s not exactly gospel, it does feel like the best opportunity to mess around with canon without retconning too much.
Maybe it's a good thing this plot point got cut, as it'd have people asking many questions. At the same time, without a definitive answer on who this secret third party is, it appears that a great mystery is now forming between these two series. Should these two episodes perform well enough, perhaps we’ll get a follow-up that answers these questions, and maybe others.
For now, you can enjoy the first half of Abbott Elementary’s crossover with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so long as you have an active Hulu subscription. We still don’t know when The Gang’s viewpoint of events will air, but we do know that it’s already filmed and waiting for 2025’s undated debut of Season 17 to bust loose.
