Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Gregory Eddie (Abbott Elementary)

Abbott Elementary had pretty much always been on my list of shows to get to eventually. It was critically acclaimed, I liked Trevor Noah’s interviews with different cast members, and it overall seemed like the kind of thing I’d be into. But it was actually autism that finally made me prioritize watching it.

Quick story: I’ve said before that reading people’s autistic headcanons for Ariel and Eric after the live-action remake was one of the final pieces that helped me crystalize my understanding of my own brain. It was as I was searching for more comments and observations about Autistic AF Ariel that I came across a post highlighting Black characters who don’t get enough acknowledgement as being autistic. It included Chidi from The Good Place and Frenchie from Our Flag Means Death, who I already loved, and OJ from Nope and Gregory from Abbott Elementary, who I’d not yet met. I quickly watched Nope, which led to me writing Neurodivergent Alley in the first place(!!!), but even though it took a while longer to carve out some room on my TV slate, I adored Abbott Elementary, and Gregory, so much. I’m all caught up now and ready for season 4!

Gregory Eddie—oh man, where do I start? He has plenty of classic hallmarks for autistic characters. He’s incredibly particular, liking things to go a certain way and ruffled when they don’t, which makes it understandable why he didn’t really see himself as an elementary teacher long-term in the beginning. He acquaints himself well with rules and schedules, always ready to rattle off some specifics when one of his fellow teachers is unsure. He speaks in a relatively flat, softspoken voice and gives subtly panicked looks to the mockumentary film crew whenever he’s uncomfortable in a social situation. He’s super knowledgeable about gardening, which is a special interest of his, although early in the show he doesn’t want to be seen caring about the school garden. He has no idea how to do small talk and doesn’t really see the point of it.

And then, there’s the food. In season 1, there’s an episode where teachers are debating the best pizza place in Philly. When asked to weigh in, Gregory cites a (made-up) pizza place from Baltimore, embarrassed to admit that he doesn’t like pizza. Not that he doesn’t eat it because he only does healthy food, not that he can’t eat it because of allergies. He doesn’t like pizza. In fact, he doesn’t like most foods. Once he’s forced to come clean to the other teachers, Gregory admits that there are only about four or five foods that he really likes and eats. Our man is out here doing an episode about safe foods, and there are fans who think he’s not autistic? Come on.

One thing I love about Gregory is that most of his facial expressions are pretty subtle—he sometimes has to specifically tell people when he’s excited about something, because it’s not always clear—but on the occasions when he does smile, it’s the total opposite of that. His smile is really toothy in a way that looks a little fake, like it’s something he had to teach himself how to do. But even though it looks fake, it always feels 100% genuine. I can feel the happiness radiating off him every time he does it. Excellent acting by Tyler James Williams there!

And look, I will very definitely be talking a lot more about Gregory and Janine sometime, but for now I’ll just say that he expresses his feelings for her in such a beautifully autistic way. He’s honest with her, even if it’s not flattering, because he thinks it will help her. He recognizes the difficulty of getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things, so he acknowledges what a big undertaking it is for her to do that. And the scene where he quietly reveals that he watched Night at the Museum because Janine said it was good is such a moment. “I take all your recommendations seriously—I wanna know why you like stuff,” is so swoonworthy when he says it.