Sheryl Lee Ralph teases ’Abbott Elementary’ season finale: “It’s a bit unexpected”

The season finale of the beloved sitcom Abbott Elementary airs Wednesday night and Sheryl Lee Ralph, who stars as Barbara Howard in the series, is dishing to ABC Audio what viewers can expect to see.

“It’s a bit unexpected,” she teases.

“And once again, you’re going to learn something new about Barbara,” the actress adds. “You’re going to see some things that you’ve been looking for and maybe, well, I don’t know how they’re going to turn out, but I know one thing. It’s going to keep you watching and looking forward to season 3.”

With two seasons under her belt as the old-school kindergarten teacher who has also taken on the role of a maternal figure to some, Ralph shares what she loves about the role.

“I love the fact that this is a wonderful character. She is fully living and invested in her life. She loves what she does. She loves her career as a teacher. She loves the students that she teaches year after year,” she explains.  “And you can see through the episodes that she will go to the limit to try to make sure that things are set up properly for her students because she wants them to succeed. And I love that about her.” 

Abbott Elementary, which also stars Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and William Stanford Davis, has also had quite a few celebrity guest stars including Leslie Odom Jr. and Taraji P. Henson. So who’s on Ralph’s list of dream guest stars?

“Why not Robert De Niro? I mean, that would be great,” she says excitedly, before offering another suggestion. “Oh, we could have Whoopi [Goldberg] back.”

Catch the season two finale of Abbott Elementary at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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