Philadelphia’s most popular show of the past few years will be coming to Philadelphia … for the first time.
The season finale of ABC series Abbott Elementary airs Wednesday, April 19. On the episode, the namesake school will take a field trip to Philadelphia’s renowned Franklin Institute science museum.
Abbott Elementary creator and West Philly native Quinta Brunson is known for getting the local details right in her role as a can-do second grade teacher named Janine Teagues at a fictional Philadelphia grade school.
People from Delaware to South Jersey to Northeast Philly love tracking appearances of regional slang (oldhead, jawn, youse), hyperlocal product placement (Utz, Danny’s Wok) and in-jokes about the unstoppable cult of Gritty, James Harden’s beard and the plastic coverings on South Philly Italian couches.
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Apparently one of those local details is the essential student field trip to the Franklin Institute.But believe it or not, this will be the first time the show has been shot on location in Philadelphia.
Here’s what we know about the Abbott Elementary season 2 finale, “Franklin Institute.”
Wait, where is Abbott Elementary filmed, if it’s not in Philadelphia?
If you’d like to visit Philadelphia’s most famous elementary school, don’t look for it in Philadelphia.
From the classrooms to the hallways to the oh-so-inspirational outdoor murals and even the school parking lot, Abbott Elementary exists only on a soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles. You can take a tour if you’d like.
Why is Abbott Elementary going to the Franklin Institute for the season finale?
Because that’s what Philadelphia schoolchildren do.
In part, the school trip is the payoff to the “Fundraiser” episode from January, when Abbott Elementary students engaged in a classic Philly pastime to fund a Franklin Institute field trip: selling chocolate at somewhat inflated prices, with a bit of ingenious hustle.
Abbott Elementary’s producers called the museum last fall, said Franklin Institute chief astronomer Derrick Pitts. Brunson and some of the other stars arrived in Philly at the end of January to shoot the episode. The Institute managed to keep the filming hush-hush by only closing off certain sections of the museum at a time, leaving the rest of the museum open.
Pitts said he was “walking on air’ after getting to meet Brunson, and was gratified the Franklin Institute was the first place that Abbott Elementary decided to visit in Philadelphia.
“Quinta was really happy to be here at the Franklin Institute. You know, it felt like she knew us,” he said. “I mean, her mother was a schoolteacher … And of all the places you could come in Philadelphia, she chose the Franklin Institute. I think that says something.”
What exhibits will Abbott Elementary students visit at the Franklin Institute?
As students have done for nearly 70 years in Philly, the children of Abbott Elementary will run through the chambers of the four-ton, papier mache Giant Heart. They will hop aboard the hulking Baldwin 60000 steam locomotive at the museum’s train factory, there since 1933.
And of course, they’ll also visit the 20-foot-tall marble statue of Ben Franklin in the museum’s rotunda, the nation’s official memorial to the kite-flying, almanac-happy Founding Father.
The children featured as extras in the season finale are not from Los Angeles: They are real-deal Philadelphia schoolchildren, apparently including “seven nephews and nieces” of Brunson, the star told Jimmy Kimmel this week.
What else happens in the Abbott Elementary season finale?
We’re told that chaos ensues after principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James) spots an extraterrestrial life form in the Franklin Institute. That said, who hasn’t?
Brunson’s co-star, Tyler James Williams, has hinted that the finale is a corker.
“It’s a big chaotic episode, but it’s one of the ones that sits super close to my heart,” said Williams in an interview with blog HollywoodLife. “I’ll really never forget that episode, man. It was super beautiful, and I can’t wait for people to see it so we can finally talk about what happened.”
Where can I watch the Abbott Elementary season finale?
You can watch it live Wednesday, April 19, on ABC at 9 p.m. EDT. You can also log into any of ABC’s streaming apps. If you’re willing to wait till Thursday, you can also watch with a Hulu subscription.
Matthew Korfhage is a Philadelphia-based reporter for USA Today Network. Email him at mkorfhage@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @matthewkorfhage.
