Quinta Brunson Is Not Afraid to Break Up Abbott Elementary’s Janine and Gregory (Exclusive)

Does Quinta Brunson have yet another trick up her sleeve?

The Abbott Elementary creator and star has finally given fans what they want in the blossoming romance between her character, Janine, and Gregory (Tyler James Williams), whose will-they-won’t-they dynamic was punctuated by a long-awaited season 2 kiss and then another, more relationship-securing moment in the season 3 finale.

At the show’s FYC event in Los Angeles on April 15, though, Brunson, 35, tells PEOPLE that it’s “good storytelling” to sometimes break up a fan-favorite couple.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with crushing [fans],” she says. “It doesn’t technically deter me.”

Still, she says she isn’t actively looking to metaphorically “kill the dog” when it comes to Janine and Gregory’s romance. “I want everyone to have a good time here.”

Of fans’ love for the teachers’ relationship, Brunson says it “always is shocking” to her how invested people get.

“It’s always what you want. It’s what you’re writing for and writing towards,” she says. “I love that they love Janine and Gregory so much. I love that they love Ava and Shawn. These things are so rewarding. That’s what you want.”

“It’s really kind of amazing how invested they get,” she adds.

When Janine and Gregory finally kissed again in the season 3 finale, which aired in May 2024, Williams, 32, told TVLine he’d been “waiting to get to this moment just as much as everybody else has” and was “really excited to explore where they’re headed.”

“Because for so long, it’s been kind of stop-start-y. Now, I can actually lean fully into the intention that has been simmering with Gregory for some time.”

Brunson said that she and the writers had “talked a lot” about how to handle the characters’ tension by season 3.

“We wanted both of them to head towards each other. That’s what we haven’t necessarily seen yet,” she told TheWrap. “We’ve seen one head toward the other, the other be skeptical … both pulling back but [we wanted] both characters saying, ‘You know what, whatever, I want this person. I’m going for them.’”

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Abbott Elementary‘s season 4 finale airs on Wednesday, April 16, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The series can also be streamed on Hulu the next day.