Daniel Radcliffe recently revealed that he’d love to star opposite Quinta Brunson in a romantic comedy — and now the actress is divulging that she tried to get him on her ABC comedy, Abbott Elementary.
“I love Daniel Radcliffe. He’s a very good, sweet guy, and a friend of mine,” Brunson, 34, said in a Monday, February 5, interview with Entertainment Weekly. “For some reason in the [writer’s] room we were like, ‘What if Daniel Radcliffe was Mr. Johnson’s son?’ And there’s no rhyme or reason. It’s so dumb. And not like Daniel Radcliffe as somebody, like, Daniel Radcliffe [himself] is Mr. Johnson’s son.”
Played by William Stanford Davis, Mr. Johnson is the school’s curmudgeonly janitor and a fan favorite character. Brunson noted that the writers behind Abbott Elementary have often pitched some of the craziest ideas when it comes to who could portray Mr. Johnson’s on screen family.
“We’ve talked about the silliest people playing [his] mom,” Brunson recalled. “We were like, ‘What if his mom is Niecy Nash? Because, clearly she’s younger but we’re just not going to talk about it. We really have to reel it in when we talk about Mr. Johnson.”
Radcliffe may not be making a surprise cameo on Abbott anytime soon, but he and Brunson do have a history of working alongside each other. The twosome costarred in both 2022’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and the TBS sitcom Miracle Workers together. Earlier this year, Radcliffe named Brunson as his No. 1 choice to star alongside him in a rom-com.
“Quinta Brunson; we should do something together,” he told Variety last month. “And we’re a perfect height match, so really there’s a future in this.”
Brunson and Radcliffe’s potential on screen reunion remains up in the air, but the Abbott creator does have certain guest stars already in her docket for season 3, including Taraji P. Henson and Ayo Edebiri, who portrayed Brunson’s character Janine’s mom and sister, respectively.
“We love them,” Brunson told EW. “They love us. They’re both very busy people now. We have definitely have plans to bring them back. For Janine, it’s really helpful to see her family. It really helps paint the picture of who she is.”
She continued, “Taraji’s very sweet and has told me very personally she will move mountains, but I don’t think she understands how many mountains she would have to move. So, if it works. But these are very good problems to have. And same thing with Ayo.”
Season 3 of the ABC comedy returns on Wednesday, February 7. The show is coming off the heels of the 75th Emmy Awards last month, where Brunson took home Best Actress in a Comedy Series, becoming the first Black woman to win the accolade in more than 40 years and the first from a network show to win it in more than a decade. (The show also received nominations for seven Emmys in total, including Outstanding Comedy Series. Henson also earned an Outstanding Guest Actress nod, while Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James were nominated in the Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories.)
“Thank you so much I love making Abbott Elementary so much and I am so happy to be able to live my dream and act out comedy, and I say it every time and I just love comedy so much that I am so happy to be able to get this,” Brunson said during her acceptance speech. “I didn’t prepare anything because I just didn’t think [I’d win]. Oh God.”
Season 3 of Abbott Elementary premieres on ABC Wednesday, February 7, at 9 p.m. ET.
