Per Indie Wire, Mr. Johnson from Abbot Elementary and Frank from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia were in supposed love triangle and the writers were going to show their backstory in the crossover. However, the plot line was cut due to time restraints. The original source was in an Entertainment Weekly interview with Patrick Schumaker (Harley Quinn, Kite Man: Hell Yeah!) and Justin Halpern (The End of the World As We Know It, Surviving Jack).
“We did at one point have a whole backstory between Frank and Mr. Johnson that they did know each other. It was that they went to high school together,” Schumaker stated in the interview. “They dated the same woman who was a canonical character in ‘Sunny,’ this character Shadynasty. That ended up falling away just as a function of, ‘Hey, we can’t tell that story. Maybe let’s save it for another time.’ 21 and a half minutes is not a lot of time to tell a story.”
Indie wire summarizes that the love square stems from the Always Sunny season 7, episode 5 titled ‘Frank’s Brother’ where Frank and his brother both fall for Shadynasty at different stages in their lives after opening their own jazz club. However, Schumacher and Halpernade made the wise decision of giving the characters the plot line they had for the first episode that aired Wednesday on ABC and the most upcoming one.
When asked how It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia will continue after the crossover, Halpern stated, “Their episode is what’s happening in between our episodes in the scenes that we’re not showing. You’re seeing what they’re doing. It’s really clever the way that they piece together their episode. It’s really ambitious.” He added that there will be gaps filled and the question of what Dennis does behind the camera will be answered.
Schumaker and Halpern have no plans in the future for crossover episodes per Indie Wire. However, Halpern concluded the interview by stating “Maybe Ava will go on location at the White Lotus,” hinting to the public they are brainstorming new ideas.