The best workplace sitcom currently going returns for another semester, taking us back to Philadelphia’s favourite beleaguered but beloved public school.
How to watch Abbott Elementary season 5 in New Zealand
Abbott Elementary season 5 is streaming exclusively in New Zealand on Disney+ from December 17, 2025.
What is Abbott Elementary season 5 about?
Abbott Elementary sets its scene among the staff of a majority Black public school in Philadelphia’s inner city. While relative newcomer Janine Teagues tries to lift up the kids in her charge, school principal Ava Coleman is more interested in lining her own pockets. Everyone else is generally just happy to make it through another day. Like Scrubs, another sitcom set in a beleaguered public institution, Abbott Elementary manages to be very funny while still making some pointed observations about the awful current state of things.
The cast of Abbott Elementary season 5
Quinta Brunson is upbeat and enthusiastic second-grade teacher Janine Teagues; Tyler James Williams is first-grade teacher and love interest Gregory Eddie; Janelle James is the spectacularly self-centered school principal Ava Coleman; Lisa Ann Walter is mobbed-up and sassy sixth-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti; Chris Perfetti is well-meaning and hopeless eighth grade history teacher Jacob Hill; Sheryl Lee Ralph is deeply religious kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard; and William Stanford Davis is school janitor Mr. Johnson, font of wisdom and weirdness.
Abbott Elementary season 5 trailer
Why we’re excited about Abbott Elementary season 5
Once you get past the “situation” part in in “situation comedy”, the most crucial ingredient is the cast. And Abbott Elementary boasts one of the best on TV right now, anchored by instant superstar Quinta Brunson as our lead. It’s an upbeat, feel good sort of affair, but one that doesn’t shy away from depicting some of the grimmer realities of modern education.
