6 ’Abbott Elementary’ Episodes With Surprising Guest Stars
Abbott Elementary (2021) is so much of what TV needs right now. It’s a network comedy with a new season every year. Its seasons feature holiday and themed episodes that have nearly become a lost art. It spotlights teachers and the hard work they do to give students at an underfunded public school the education they deserve. Though the titular elementary school is fictional, it takes place in the real Philadelphia and features plenty of famous guest stars.
Sometimes guest stars are celebrities who play versions of themselves. Questlove made an appearance at Ava Fest in Season 3. Other times, the celebrity plays a character that appears in one or more episodes. A personal favorite is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s (1990) Tatyana Ali guest starring as Crystal, Ava’s former sorority sister and the principal of a rival school. Abbott Elementary even had a recent crossover with another popular Philadelphia-set show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005). Here are some more surprising Abbott Elementary cameos and guest stars that you may have missed over the seasons, all of which you can stream on Hulu now.
1. Miranda Cosgrove in Season 3’s “Tryouts”
As someone who grew up watching Miranda Cosgrove on iCarly (2007), I couldn’t quite contain my excitement about Miranda Cosgrove guest starring on this show. She made her debut as Natalie, a substitute teacher, in Abbott Elementary Season 6, Episode 3, “Tryouts.” The character’s arc seems to be contained to this episode, as Natalie quits Abbott and gets a job at another school by the end of the episode. Still, I can hope that she’ll come back for some reason. Every scene Cosgrove is in is better than the last—her rolling down the car window was hilarious!
Cosgrove’s comedic timing instantly fits with this ensemble and the easy rhythm they’ve created over the last five years. The scene at Bonetown when Janine (Quinta Brunson), Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) become increasingly uncomfortable with Natalie being a sister (not a nun) instantly puts it on my favorites list of the season—and Abbott Elementary is only three episodes into Season 6 thus far. Also, Cosgrove guest stars in the same episode that actress and comedian Ali Wong appears as Ms. Pittman, a special ed teacher.
2. Bradley Cooper in Season 3’s “Willard R. Abbott”
Bradley Cooper appears as himself in Abbott Elementary Season 3, Episode 6, “Willard R. Abbott.” This episode aired right after the 96th Academy Awards in 2024, so it pulled in record viewers. It’s also interesting since, at that award show, Cooper received multiple nominations yet zero wins for Maestro (2023). On Abbott Elementary, the teachers and Cooper joked about how he was the least memorable part of some of his most popular movies. It all felt meta given the timing. Janine even says, “Guys, he’s literally in a critically acclaimed movie right now.”
Still, the most surprising part of Cooper’s cameo is that he does the Rocket Raccoon voice from Guardians of the Galaxy (2024). Only upon watching this episode did I realize how rare it is to see Cooper do that. Regardless, he appeared in the episode because one of the students saw him outside the school and thought Cooper would make an exciting Show-and-Tell presentation. Cooper was going to a deli he frequents when he’s home in Philadelphia—the actor is from there. I also loved that, as she does, Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) confused Cooper’s The Hangover (2009) with The Holdovers (2023). It’s a delightful cold open and not the only one on this list.
3. Kevin Hart in Season 3’s “Mother’s Day”
Kevin Hart’s cameo in Abbott Elementary Season 3, Episode 12, “Mother’s Day,” is one of the most surprising. I’m also such a fan of how a fun cameo like his lends itself to the characters. The episode takes place on Mother’s Day. Though Janine doesn’t spend the day with her mom, it does get her thinking (again) about who her father may be. Ava (Janelle James) makes a joke that Hart could be Janine’s father since they are both so short. Janine runs with that, remembering that her mother knew Kevin Hart in high school.
As they do on any sitcom, things snowball with Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) revealing that she knows someone who knows Hart’s barber and could get Janine some of his hair for a DNA test. By the end of the episode, Janine discovers that Hart is, predictably, not her father. With the support of her friend Erika (Courtney Taylor) and Ava, Janine remembers that she doesn’t need to be defined by her parents. With that story coming to a close, it’s a real shock when Hart appears in the episode’s tag through a FaceTime call. He says that he remembers Janine’s mom, he’s not Janine’s father, and he wants her to stop harassing her on social media.
4. Jaylen Brown in Season 6’s “Jungle Classroom”
The Philadelphia 76ers’ Jaylen Brown is not the first local athlete to appear on the comedy series, but he is among the most recent. He appeared alongside Tyrese Maxey and V. J. Edgecombe in Abbott Elementary Season 6, Episode 1, “Jungle Classroom.” Their cameos are just in the season premiere’s cold open, but they’re still fantastic. Brown and his teammates appear to build a playground after Jacob was scammed by a group pretending to be the 76ers.
Just three seasons prior, the show also featured a beloved Philadelphia athlete in Abbott Elementary Season 3, Episode 1, “Career Day Part 1.” Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts surprised Melissa and her students over zoom after an Eagles marketing member’s presentation. Suddenly, essentially the entire school was in Melissa’s classroom to see Hurts, including Ava, who relatably pushed through the halls saying, “The world’s finest starting quarterback is here!” Hurts’s screen time is a bit longer. He mistakes Janine for a student and cheers Melissa up after she turns down Gary’s (Bruno Amato) proposal, which Hurts played a part in. Oh, and Brandon Graham and Jason Kelce also make surprise cameos!
5. Leslie Odom Jr. in Season 2
Leslie Odom Jr. was a recurring guest star in the show’s second season. He played Draemond Winding, who became a bit of an antagonist throughout the season. Draemond was the Chief Executive Director of the Legendary Charter Schools and first appeared in Abbott Elementary Season 2, Episode 7, “Attack Ad.” He launched the attack ad against Abbott to work in his favor of turning the public school into a charter school. That potential loomed large for the season.
By Abbott Elementary Season 2, Episode 19, “Festival,” Odom Jr.’s last episode, the show had revealed more about Draemond. He attended Abbott Elementary 30 years prior, when Barbara taught him. He had respect for her then and only her now. She tried to break through to him about Abbott’s appeal and positive influence, but he wouldn’t listen. Eventually, the parents of students at Abbott spoke up in defense of the school and its teachers, pushing Draemond away. There’s a chance that he may appear again on the show, but his arc seems pretty closed.
6. Ayo Edebiri in Season 2
The Bear’s (2022) Ayo Edebiri guest starring as Janine’s sister, Ayesha, is one of the many instances of Abbott Elementary’s inspired casting. She only appeared in two episodes in the second season. Both suggest that we could (and should) see the character again. Edebiri first appeared as Ayesha over FaceTime in Abbott Elementary Season 2, Episode 14, “Valentine’s Day,” and that came after a few episodes of anticipation for Janine and the audience.
Janine and her sister have a strained dynamic because of their mother, Vanetta (Taraji P. Henson), who was also introduced in Season 2. Ayesha, who feels like she can’t live up to Janine, moved away from home to implement boundaries with her mother. Janine stayed in Philadelphia to look after Vanetta. All of that tension came to a head when Ayesha visited her sister in Abbott Elementary Season 2, Episode 18, “Teacher Appreciation.” They leave things on pretty good terms when Janine vulnerably admits that it felt like Ayesha left her, too. Hopefully Edebiri will be in another episode soon, because Ayesha and Janine’s dynamic is certainly one to watch.
