Minor spoilers for Abbott Elementary Season 5, Episode 9 are ahead! Read with caution and stream the series with a Hulu subscription.
In Abbott Elementary’s holiday episode, we got one of the wildest plot twists in the show’s history, as it was revealed that they’d be moving out of their school and into a mall. Yes, a mall. However, while this development is pretty crazy, it’s actually based in truth, as the showrunners revealed what inspired this unexpected location change halfway through Season 5.
When Abbott Elementary returned on the 2026 TV schedule, it was not in the same place. Instead of the hallways and classrooms we’re used to, we got to see the teachers and students occupy an abandoned mall and the stores inside it. It turns out that kind of thing has happened in real life. Explaining why real schools have had to move into massive buildings like malls, showrunner Justin Halpern told Deadline:
We heard about what had happened at Pali High after the fires, and then we started doing some research about just a lot of schools that were having a lot of structural issues, in Philadelphia, but elsewhere, and how common it was for schools to have to relocate for a certain amount of time, which felt like, after everything else you throw at educators then put that on top of their already busy schedules, and it felt impossible.
Later in the interview, showrunner Patrick Schumacker explained that Pali High moved into a Sears in Santa Monica after they lost their building. According to the NYT, after the school burned down in January, the school was online for a few months until they found a new place to house the students and staff. That home was in an old department store.
Explaining how that situation inspired the story currently happening on Abbott Elementary, Schumacker said:
We specifically talked to someone from the LAUSD board who had dealt with firsthand relocating kids from Pali High after the Palisades fire to the dead Sears at the Santa Monica promenade. So, that was super illuminating, talking to him about about that change, how it affected the kids, what a headache it was for the board and for the school and educators [and] administrators involved in the Pali High [move]. And they’re still there.
Overall, the goal of this story is to shine a light on what teachers really go through. Speaking to that point, Halpern noted that this has been a goal that the show’s creator and star, Quinta Brunson, has had since day one. So, when it came to this mall story, they really are highlighting something educators have had to work through. Explaining that point further, the showrunner said:
Quinta, I think originally, was like, ‘I want to show this.’ She was like, ‘I want to talk about the reality that these educators go through and have us put our characters through the same thing,’ because that’s always what we’re trying to do. We talked to several different people who had actually gone through it. Educators, administrators and teachers, who had gone through this.
Of course, Abbott Elementary has its super silly moments that are like a heightened reality. However, at its core, it’s a love letter to educators and those who work in schools. It also helps viewers learn about the unfathomable problems they have to face, like moving into a mall.
So, yes, this move shocked me more than the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover and Ava’s firing, because it felt so outlandish. However, it’s truly based on real stories and moves that happened to schools, and it’s been incredible to watch.
Now, to see how the situation with the mall evolves, you can catch new episodes of Abbott Elementary on ABC every Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET, or you can stream it the next day on Hulu.
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