‘Abbott Elementary’ featured Philly area students in the season finale
Cheltenham School District's Eva Morrow, and sisters Lexi Bradley and Shya Bradley, were featured as extras in the episode filmed at Franklin Institute
Three local students made it into Abbott Elementary’s Season 2 finale last week. The beloved ABC comedy set at a Philly public school filmed most of the episode at the Franklin Institute, marking the first time the show shot in Philadelphia.
Eva Morrow, a first grader at Myers Elementary, and sisters Lexi Bradley (a fifth grader at Elkins Park School) and Shya Bradley (a freshman at Cheltenham High School) were featured as extras, according to the Cheltenham School District. The episode, filmed in February, focused on the school’s sleepover field trip to the Franklin Institute. The local students are pictured playing in the space exhibit and the train factory.
“I felt good, but a little bit nervous,” said Eva, 6. “I had fun and, like, we got to look at the Franklin Institute on our breaks, too. We got to play wherever.”
On-screen, Eva is shown in the train factory exhibit, which is her favorite room in the museum. On set, she even made a couple of new friends.
“We love the show,” said Kia Morrow, Eva’s mom. “She’s watched her episode, as she calls it, no less than six or seven times already.”
Last summer, Morrow registered her daughter with a casting agency but hadn’t heard back. She had nearly forgotten about it when she got a text inviting Eva to participate in Abbott. “She likes to you know, sing, dance. Now she wants to act, model — all of the things,” said Morrow.
Abbott’s sleepover field trip is much like the overnight stay that Elkins Park fifth graders do each year at the Franklin Institute.
Creator and star Quinta Brunson recently told Jimmy Kimmel that she never had a chance to go on a museum sleepover, which is why she wanted to create that scenario for the show. The episode couldn’t include the show’s typical extras — those kids live in Los Angeles — so Brunson invited her family and friends to join the group of extras.
“I think I have seven nephews and nieces in the finale episode. See if you can spot them, we all have the same face,” she told Kimmel on the April 12 episode. “Friends of mine from school who now have kids, their kids got to come be in it. It was incredible.”