All the ‘Abbott Elementary' Season 4 Emmy predictions, including those ‘Sunny' guest stars
Abbott Elementary Season 4 has received straight A's from TV critics, earning a 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But will that perfect score translate to the 2025 Emmys?
To date, ABC's school-set mockumentary has been nominated for 24 Emmys and won four: Best Comedy Actress for Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues (2023), Best Comedy Supporting Actress for Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard (2022), Best Comedy Writing for Brunson for the pilot (2022), and Best Comedy Casting (2022). It's still waiting on that coveted victory for Best Comedy Series, for which it has been nominated for each of its first three seasons. Let's take a look at Abbott's strongest Emmy chances for Season 4, category by category.
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As usual, there will be eight slots for this series race, and Abbott Elementary is sitting pretty in fifth place. (Hacks, The Studio, Only Murders in the Building, and The Bear are above it.) The fact that Abbott is one of the funniest shows in contention should work in its benefit, especially given the backlash that a certain kitchen dramedy has received over the years. It's a comedy category, after all.
However, Abbott has something going against it that may not be recoverable: it airs on broadcast. Emmy voters have notoriously shunned the Big Four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) in recent years, and instead have embraced shiny new streamers and reliable pay-cable channels. It has been more than a decade since ABC's Modern Family completed its five-year comedy series streak in 2014, and Fox's 24 was the last drama series to prevail, way back in 2006.
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Quinta Brunson won this award in 2023, the year that Hacks was on hiatus. That's important to note because the other two times she was nominated for Best Comedy Actress, in 2022 and 2024, she was beaten by Hacks star Jean Smart. Smart is back again this year and is Gold Derby's frontrunner to prevail, while Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) sits in second place, and Brunson rounds out the top three. There will only be five slots in this category, due to a lower-than-usual number of submissions.
One of the throughlines of Season 4 was the romantic relationship between Janine and Tyler James Williams' Gregory Eddie, but it never came at the expense of other characters. "Quinta never wanted this to be the Gregory and Janine show," co-showrunner and executive producer Justin Halpern told Gold Derby "She wanted that to be, certainly, a storyline in it, and maybe it's even a reason why some people are watching it, but it wasn't the center that the show rotated around."
Gold Derby predicts that Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James (Ava Coleman) will reap nominations for the fourth time in a row, as they both rank within the seven expected nomination slots. A third supporting actress, Lisa Ann Walter (Melissa Schemmenti), is in 30th place. Ralph surprisingly won this category in 2022, despite the potential vote-split from her costar, and memorably sang "Endangered Species" during her acceptance speech. Her storylines in Season 4 included putting on a Christmas pageant, teaching Charlie Day's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia character how to read, and stressing out about growing old.
As for James, Season 4 was undeniably "the season of Ava," co-showrunner and executive producer Patrick Schumacker told Gold Derby. The feisty principal fell on the sword for the rest of the school following an audit, and was fired from her position. "They kind of threw everything at me this season and I feel like I delivered," the actress proudly told us. In addition, Ava experienced a mature romance with IT guy O'Shon (Matthew Law), and reunited with her estranged father, Frank (Keith David). If voters are watching, James is undoubtedly an Emmy threat in her Best Comedy Supporting Actress category.
Tyler James Williams is in fifth place for an Emmy nomination, which would be his fourth overall. He won the Golden Globe in 2023 and declared at the podium, "I pray that this is a win for Gregory Eddie [and] that we may understand that his story is just as important as all of the other stories that have to be told." One of the actor's most memorable moments in Season 4 was stepping behind the camera as a director for "The Science Fair" episode. "I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity," Williams told Gold Derby. "There was just something about this show that was different. It feels very close to me, like family."
Elsewhere in the Best Comedy Supporting Actor category, Chris Perfetti (Jacob Hill) is in 15th place, and William Stanford Davis (Mr. Johnson) is in 33nd place; both are looking for their first career nominations. As Davis revealed to Gold Derby, "What I really love about [Mr. Johnson] is his mystery. You don't know what he's going to do next, and you don't know what his experiences are. ... He feels like he's the smartest guy there."
One opportunity for Abbott Elementary to experience an Emmy boost would be in the guest categories. To date, the only day player to receive a bid was Taraji P. Henson as Vanetta Teagues, Janine's estranged mother, in 2023. Henson was predicted to win, but lost to Judith Light (Poker Face).
Disney/Gilles Mingasson
Season 4 guest stars in contention for Emmys this year are Keith David as Frank Coleman for "The Science Fair," Talia Shire as Melissa's mother, Teresa Schemmenti, for "Winter Break," plus four It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast members for the cross-over "Volunteers" episode: Charlie Day as Charlie, Danny DeVito as Frank, Rob McElhenney as Mac, and Kaitlin Olson as Dee. (Glenn Howerton as Dennis also appeared, but was not submitted for Emmy consideration.) Olson currently enjoys the strongest Emmy odds, in 15th place for Best Comedy Guest Actress, while Day is in 20th place for Best Comedy Guest Actor.
Abbott Elementary submitted three directors on this year's Emmy ballot: Jennifer Celotta for "Strike," Jaime Eliezer Karas for "Audit," and Randall Einhorn for "Please Touch Museum," the Season 4 finale. "As directors, all we're ever doing is serving the scripts," Einhorn shared with Gold Derby. He said that the mockumentary comedy has "maintained a consistent style," though he always tries to "find new and interesting ways to tell our story." Einhorn received the only directing nomination so far for Abbott, for "Party" in 2024, which lost to The Bear's "Fishes."
The show has received two Emmy nominations for writing, both for Brunson: "Pilot" (which won in 2022) and "Career Day" (which lost to Hacks' "Bulletproof" in 2024). This year, it's only on the ballot once for writing, for the Season 4 premiere, "Back to School," written by — who else? — Brunson. It's a savvy strategy to only submit one episode for contention, so as not to split the vote.
Abbott Elementary is a collaborative effort and that's reflected in its Emmy submissions, where artisans are eligible in 10 below-the-line races: casting, cinematography ("Karaoke"), costumes ("Costume Contest"), hairstyling ("100th Day of School"), makeup ("Ava Fest: Tokyo Drift"), music supervision ("Karaoke"), picture editing ("Karaoke" and "Ringworm"), production design ("Karaoke"), sound editing ("Please Touch Museum"), and sound mixing ("Please Touch Museum").
Besides its casting victory in 2002, the comedy has also been nominated for casting in 2023 and 2024, plus hairstyling in 2023 and 2024. There's no reason to think Abbott won't be adding more craft bids to its tally in 2025, particularly after fans and critics agreed that Season 4 schooled the competition.
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