Actor's choice vs. audience choice.
Tyler James Williams is about to crush the dreams of a lot of Abbott Elementary fans, but he has a good reason, I promise!
Since the show's inception, people have been pining for Tyler's character Gregory Eddie to end up with Qunita Brunson's character Janine Teagues.
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Twitter: @joelygabs
Everyone shipping their relationship experienced "will they, won't they" moments throughout the seasons. The real emotional test came when Gregory and Janine finally kissed, but ultimately decided to stay friends.
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Twitter: @jelevision
Well, Tyler recently stopped by the Jennifer Hudson Show to explain why he'd prefer those characters remain friends despite the public outcry for them to evolve into something more romantic.
"I hate to say it," Tyler told Jennifer. "Everybody's always mad at me for this, but I don't necessarily want to see them together."
"I don't think we see displays of platonic love between two people often. I think it's really easy to go right to 'they have feelings for each other, therefore they should be together.'"
Tyler added that he watches a lot of TV and movies and has read a ton of scripts. Friendships like theirs typically lead to romance, so it would interest him more if their relationship didn't turn into a typical trope.
"I like this dynamic of them exploring withholding that and just actively loving each other where they are. That, I'd like to see more of."
"TV allows people to see things that could be their lives for the first time. I think seeing a healthy friendship, that is deeply caring about one another in a work atmosphere, needs to be shown more than a relationship."
Although I am one of the fans who would love to see them together, I agree with a lot of the points he made. I'm also a fan of plot twists and storylines that do not follow a common trend. So, seeing Gregory and Janine pursue a deeper friendship instead of romance might actually be refreshing.
But other die-hard shippers had other thoughts:
“we make a really good team.”
“yeah, we do.”
janine was the only person who gregory could call to tell her that alex was back in school 🥺 gregory def misses going to janine’s classroom to talk to her. he loves her real bad idc what tyler says #AbbottElementary pic.twitter.com/9jtVlgD8e0
— bre ✨ (@justthatbre) April 11, 2024
While Tyler isn’t wrong about shows not depicting alot of platonic relationships between men and women… JanineGregory was written from the very beginning. Gregory was down BAD and still is. There is more than platonic love between them like pls. Idc I’m getting my endgame! pic.twitter.com/crE05L6ffP
— Nel✨ (@mrsalexsmith___) April 10, 2024
Saying I like platonic love and why can’t two characters just be friends with feelings when Janine and Gregory have already kissed is nasty. That’s actually terrible. Basically you’re saying you don’t wanna go forward
— boo 🫧 (@xvgvault) April 10, 2024
Janine and Gregory do make a good team. A lovely team. A team that jumps over the broom in a big church and stays together 'til death do them part; Amen. #AbbottElementary
— Annelisa J. Purdie 🐏 📜 🌾 (@RosyShepherdess) April 11, 2024