Quinta Brunson wants to make a sitcom about the TSA

Quinta Brunson can make anything funny. She continues to deliver joke after joke on season three of the excellent Abbott Elementary, but at some point, she knows she’ll have to graduate and move on. “Both I and Larry Wilmore have been trying to crack a TSA comedy for the longest time,” the showrunner said on a recent episode of Hot Ones. “I think a comedy has to have an engine, and I think that in workplace comedies, you need to be able to count on an environment where there is a situation that would naturally arise each episode.” That, at least, is a big check in the TSA’s column.

This eye to the future doesn’t mean that Brunson is giving up on Abbott—far from it. The series is meticulously thought out, in everything from the former Buzzfeed star’s casting choices to the evolution of Janine’s hair. “[Janine’s hair] looks bad on purpose,” Brunson explained. “She’s a girl who doesn’t quite know what to do with her hair and wardrobe yet, but she’s proud of herself regardless. That’s what I wanted people to take away with that kind of character—not that she’s perfect or knows how to do it all.”

“Janine’s a character now who has started to watch some YouTube videos, and she was like, ‘That’s how I’ll maintain my curls.’ And then she went, ‘Maybe not that shirt with that skirt!’” Brunson continued. “That’s fun. It’s a way for us to show her brain on the outside of her head. It’s important to have those things for all characters, but especially a young, Black girl character as well.”

You can watch more of Janine’s evolution on Abbott Elementary season three, airing Wednesdays on ABC and Hulu.