'English Teacher's Brian Jordan Alvarez on the Show's Genesis, the Finale, and Hopes for More (2024)

Editor's note: The below interview contains spoilers for the finale of English Teacher.When English Teacher first premiered on FX earlier this fall, there was no telling whether the comedy drama series would catch on with viewers — but week after week, Brian Jordan Alvarez's show has continued to draw in all kinds of praise on social media. The show follows the titular educator Evan Marquez (Alvarez) as he navigates the professional aspects of his job working at a high school in Austin, Texas with the personal issues pertaining to his sexuality and liberal perspective. Over the course of the school year, Evan also develops stronger relationships with his co-workers including his best friend Gwen Sanders (Stephanie Koenig), gym teacher Markie Hillridge (Sean Patton), principal Grant Moretti (Enrico Colantoni), and counselor Rick Santana (Carmen Christopher) — but also has to balance work expectation with his crush on a handsome new hire Harry (Langston Kerman) and his on-again, off-again relationship with former teacher Malcolm (Jordan Firstman).

Collider had the opportunity to sit down with Alvarez twice — both in the weeks following English Teacher's initial premiere as well as shortly before the airing of its finale, "Birthday." Over the course of the interview below, Alvarez explains how English Teacher first came to be, how the writers tackle heavy topics with humor, finding some of the show's freshest talent on TikTok, and what it's been like to watch the reactions to the show playing out on social media each week. He also breaks down the biggest moments of the finale, including Evan's choice between Harry and Malcolm, staging the gay bar setting, and more.

COLLIDER: I would love to hear about the genesis of this show. Was Evan always meant to be a teacher? Did you ever have ideas for other potential occupations?

BRIAN JORDAN ALVAREZ: No, this show was always this. It was always about me playing Evan as an English teacher in Austin, Texas. The real genesis of it was Paul Simms calling me. Paul Simms had watched some stuff I had done online, and he called my agent and said, “I want to meet with this guy.” Then he called me, and he said, “I think we should make something together.” And I said, “Paul, thank you so much, but I've tried to make things in the system before. I found it very difficult. I didn't know how to get my style of comedy through that.” And he said, “I'm gonna show you how to do it. I'm gonna show you the ropes. Trust me. You're coming out of retirement, and we're gonna make a TV show.” I was like, “Alright, let's do it!” Because when somebody as brilliant as Paul comes to you and says that, you go, “This is a huge opportunity.”

His kids are in school, and he was saying something about their schools, and I was like, “Well, this would be an interesting environment.” I had been spending a lot of time in Austin, and I’d just really fallen in love with Austin. I also felt like it was somewhere that, if I didn't live in LA, and I wasn't an actor, Austin would be a realistic place for someone like me to live. I grew up in a small town in the south. I was born in New York City, and I lived there until I was four. I was on Roosevelt Island at that time, and then I moved to very rural Tennessee — this town called Winchester, Tennessee. I went to public school in the country in Tennessee for all of elementary school and middle school. But then, for high school, I went to this highly liberal, wonderful private high school up on this mountain in a town called Sewanee — that's where the University of the South is. So, that environment felt natural to me, this liberal pocket in a more conservative area, and so I knew there was a lot to mine there, just like when I was growing up there, and that's kind of where it came from.

You and Stephanie Koenig have been long-time creative partners and friends. Was there anything about working together on this show that gave new dimension to that partnership that maybe you hadn’t experienced before in previous projects?

ALVAREZ: It was just so cool for us to be making something at the professional level. I took to it like a fish to water, and when we were building the writers’ room for this, I was like, “Let's get Stephanie in here.” She was a huge part of our writers’ room along with our other brilliant writers — Zach Dunn, Jake Bender, Emmy Blotnick, and Dave King. Stephanie wrote the “Powderpuff” episode. She was instrumental. She's in the DNA of the show.

I just think you live your life and sometimes you meet truly wonderful people, and you're grateful to get to keep spending time with them. So, every opportunity I have to hang out with Stephanie and work with Stephanie is a gift in my life. She makes me laugh harder than anyone. I just love her, and I'm grateful to know her. I'm grateful to get to be in the presence of her talent, and I'm grateful to be able to have that talent be a part of this show that I love so much.

What do you feel the magic formula is of honing in on how many jokes you can include in a single episode?

ALVAREZ: The answer to that is: “As many as possible.”

There are moments where they're so stacked close together that you almost have to pause a scene because you're laughing so hard at the joke before, you don't want to miss the one that is coming.

ALVAREZ: Oh, I love that. Thank you! That's a high compliment. Look, to me, the biggest compliment about the show is when people say, “I'm rewatching these episodes. I've watched them more than once.” That is what I want to hear. Because ideally, it's so dense and full of comedy that you've got to watch it again to see the things that you missed, and I just love that. I'm someone with a pretty short attention span, and so I wanna write something that is so entertaining that you can't pick your phone up during it or you're gonna miss something. It seems like we've achieved that. People do keep describing the show as “dense with jokes,” and I'm like, “That is a great compliment. Thank you!”

This is largely to Paul Simms' credit, too. There are times in writing when you will accidentally start tilting toward dramedy or drama, and FX and Paul were both good at constantly and casually reminding us, “This is a comedy. We're going comedy, comedy, comedy here. We can explore all the subjects you want, but we gotta fill it up with jokes.” There were even times in the edit when the edit would get too dramatic and they would go, “Add some jokes in here.” It helps the show so much because then we get to really explore major topics. You're laughing the whole time while also having real conversations, and that, to me, is magic.

Brian Jordan Alvarez Discusses Tackling Heavy Topics With Humor in 'English Teacher'

You're tackling school shootings and drag shows and things that are hot-button topics in today's climate. Do you ever feel like there are rules about what can be the target of humor versus anything that's more off-limits?

ALVAREZ: We want to come at everything with empathy and with a lot of intelligence. We're trying to think deeply about things. We're really trying to discuss these things even in our writers’ room intelligently and look at them deeply. We want our characters to be real people and real empathetic people who are doing their best, and I think that combination lets us do a lot.

Also, FX, their motto is fearless. It's with their logo — it says “FX, Fearless.” In the process of making this, I was often surprised by how willing they were to go there with different things, and even go there with jokes. They really want to make a bold, unique show, and they want to champion the voices of the people who are making this thing, and it's been cool. You're like, “Wow, we are getting to do this, and we don't have somebody telling us, ‘Oh, no, that's off limits.’” In fact, they go, “Yeah, explore that,” because they're smart people and they're deep thinkers up there. John Landgraf, he's the top of FX, and he's a very deep-thinking guy. You'll have long meetings with him where he'll talk about the show very intellectually, and you'll be like, “Wow, this guy is deepening the meaning of my show in a way that is true to the show and makes the show even better.”

Was there anything joke-wise that you had to tone down or cut out? There were some jokes — especially in the “Field Trip” episode talking about the sex games — where I was like, “I cannot believe that these lines made it in.”

ALVAREZ: What we do is we write the funniest thing we can and then we listen to feedback. That's the whole process. So, we just wrote the funniest stuff we could come up with, and we're grateful that the powers that be agreed, basically, because we were like, “This is so funny.” The episode where Stephanie and I were in a tent practicing these guitar songs, we were doing that scene, and the mom [Andrene Ward-Hammond] pops in and then checks on us, and we couldn't get through the lines sometimes because we were laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe. She was so funny. Just the expressions she would make when we would say, “Sharon, we are obviously not playing Stone Face,” and she would look at us like, “I don't really believe you.” Her expressions are incredible. She's a brilliant actress.

Speaking of brilliance, I have to shout out the actors who played the students in this show. They’re some of the funniest recurring characters that flesh out this world. Has there been anything about working with this younger cast that’s really surprised you, or that you've learned from them?

ALVAREZ: They all have really great unique personalities that we get to show off in the show. There are plenty of times when we're doing those scenes, and we're saying, “How would you say this?” Or even, “Tonally, say it more like yourself, or say it more casually.” They're just really good actors, and they're game. They know the show they're in, they get it, they get the joke. I think people around that age — most of them are early twenties — those people really like the show a lot from what I've seen in the response, and so in a way, those book club students and the actors that play them really get the joke of this show as much as anybody, and they're ready to chime in. We'll have little times when we do improv, like we'll let the whole group just kind of riff and see if anything comes out of that. The scenes are written tightly, as well. We do things very to-script and we let people play a lot, as well.

It's been cool watching some of them really come into their own. Some of them haven't appeared in many things or even anything. Ben Bondurant, who plays Jeff, came out of TikTok. Somebody told me to follow him on TikTok because they said this, “This guy's comedy reminds me of you.” So I followed him, and then this part came up, and he was perfect for it. The same with Aliyah's Interlude. She plays Tiffany in the show and she is somebody who I saw on TikTok one day. I was laughing at all her videos, and I followed her, and then this part came up, and we auditioned her for it and she was perfect. So, I'm glad if the world gets to see how funny these people are.

Where Did Markie's Softer Side on 'English Teacher' Come From?

Markie has become such a welcome surprise, and Sean Patton really walks that line between someone who is just saying insensitive off-the-cuff things, but then in these episodes — “Powderpuff” is a great example — he has a softer side. Was there ever a version of him that was less sensitive, and then you decided to bring in those moments a little more, or was he always written to be pretty complex?

ALVAREZ: We always wanted to write him with depth, but Paul Simms was a big champion of making sure that Markie was doing things that were unexpected on a regular basis and that he was a three-dimensional, real, empathetic character. And FX, too. They knew we've got to write these characters as real people and real people don't just fall into one set of attributes. He's a dynamic character, so having Sean be able to play all of those different qualities — finding him was amazing. He's such a huge asset to the show because he contains all of that really strong presence, that strong energy, an ability to really loudly state opinions, and you start to see his crush on Gwen arise. His ability as an actor to play all those different dynamics is something we are so grateful for. There was a lot of focus on making sure that all the characters were three-dimensional and written with empathy and intelligence.

When did you all decide that Markie was going to have a crush on Gwen in terms of that storyline playing out?

ALVAREZ: We always wanted Markie to be not exactly what you think he is when you first meet him. Beyond that, the Markie casting search was extensive, and when we found Sean Patton, it was like, "Wow, this guy just has it. He has everything we need." One of the main things that Sean has that's so rare is this ability to have this total tough guy exterior, but also to be so tender. Even as a person in real life, he has this beautiful vulnerability about him. I do think Sean's strengths as an actor, which include this sort of tenderness, lent themselves to this crush really playing in the writing. What's more sensitive than just a simple crush?

We knew he could nail that and that it would really hit home, and it just felt real in the writing. It felt so real that if any guy really would have a crush on Gwen, Markie would. So I think it's largely to Sean's credit. He's a huge stand-up [comedian]. He plays big stadiums and opens for the biggest. He's up there with the big guys, and you never quite know how that'll translate into on-camera acting. But in these moments when you need him to be completely real, completely connected, feel something, he just delivers over and over, and it was just a gift to the project. A huge part of why the show works is Sean's dynamic range as an actor.

Brian Jordan Alvarez Explains Finding the Soundtrack for 'English Teacher'

I did want to ask about the soundtrack for the show, which is just earworms — bangers all around. When did you find the sound for this show?

ALVAREZ: That was in the very first episode in the pilot. I had even written in the pilot script, “Please listen to the songs as you're reading the script because they are critical to you getting the vibe.” I even remember Paul saying to me, “I wasn't gonna listen to the songs, but then I did start playing them, and wow, they do help the script.” I've always loved ‘80s music. My dad really loves ‘80s music. He has these playlists that I've heard my whole life with ‘80s and early ‘90s hits. To me, it's some of the best music, and it makes us feel so good. It's so joyful and it gets you excited. And like I said about wanting to make a show that entertains you and doesn't really let you pick up your phone, a great song is such a great way in, and to get people hyped up. It’s cool I get to use a different one every episode, and the network has been great about letting us have access to this music.

We have an amazing music supervisor, too, Jen Ross, and one of the great things she does is we'll have a song in a script — because we do write with these songs in mind — and she'll say, “That artist, you can't even get that song for any price. It's not clearable. But here are five songs that I think have the same vibe.” And you go, “Oh my god. Actually, this one I like even better! I forgot about this song. We can have this song?” She has a real encyclopedic knowledge of music and the music industry and what clearances are like, and she's really present in the music of the show.

I would love to get your thoughts on what the reaction to the show has been like on social media. It really seems like people are responding to this show and engaging with the show in a fun way. I do feel like the weekly release has helped that conversation grow.

ALVAREZ: Right, because it helps build momentum. There's this sort of snowballing effect where each week more people watch it, [or] more people go and then binge all of it. Every week, they have more to binge if they're not caught up. My favorite thing is so many people saying it's their favorite show. This is what we were hoping for. People being like, "I can't believe the season finale is coming up. Please, I'm going to miss this so much. When can we have more episodes?" It's all music to my ears. The reaction, to me, has been so amazing. My favorite part is when the fans are also being very funny. They're adding their own jokes or reposting clips. Social media can be a very fun place for things like this to explode, and it's really been explosive.

One character that people I'm seeing respond to is Sharon. She pops up again in the "Linda" episode too. Is it safe to say that, fingers crossed, if the show comes back for a second season, she or any of these other guest characters that we've seen could become more of a recurring presence?

ALVAREZ: I hope so. Look, the writers' room is a wondrous place, and we'll see what we find. I personally very much want to see more Sharon and I want to see more Linda. These are powerhouse guest stars that came to us through our amazing casting director, and we were just blown away by these people. We lucked out and got some of the most talented actors ever in the show, but especially the Sharon episode, especially the Linda episode, and then Sharon coming back in the Linda episode was just very triumphant, and I think people could tell. But that was us. We wrote [Sharon] in last minute because we had loved her work so much in the field trip episode that we were like, "Let's see if we can find a little place for her to come back again this season." And so she came back and just nailed it again. Every clip I post of her goes viral.

Brian Jordan Alvarez Dissects the Biggest Moments of the 'English Teacher' Finale

Jumping ahead to the finale, the premise is just so funny.

ALVAREZ: That's Paul Simms' credit. Paul was like, "What if we take the audience somewhere they haven't been before?"

Is that a real bar that you filmed in? Was that another venue that you dressed up as a bar?

ALVAREZ: It's a real bar. I don't believe it's a gay bar in real life. So yeah, we made it gay.

This is probably more of an inside baseball question, but did you actually film what's being shown on the bar TVs in the background?

ALVAREZ: Yeah. Everything there is actually very PG if you look at it closely. It's just sort of giving the right vibe. Our line producer, Kate Dean, directed the convention episode, and then she helped direct that stuff as well. It was sort of like a second-unit situation.

In the karaoke scene, Evan makes his choice in terms of who he wants to be with. And I'm wondering what you feel is going through his head that leads him to pick somebody that he's had this on-again, off-again with versus a potential new fling.

ALVAREZ: What did you expect? Were you surprised?

I was a little surprised, because in the moment, there's Markie kind of hyping him up. But he does have this connection with Malcolm, and they keep being drawn back to each other despite the fact that they keep saying, "We're not a couple," or "We've broken up." If you've been watching the show, they are magnets in a way.

ALVAREZ: Right, right, exactly. On some level, these guys seem to be right for each other because they just want to keep hanging out. But it's also just an interesting thing to get to explore, even ideally next season and beyond. Is Evan going to stay with what he knows, or is he going to move on to something new? But some of the best love in our lives is with people who really do know us so well and so completely, and Malcolm and Evan know each other so deeply and so completely, so they are in love. But I think Evan is very attracted to Harry and vice versa. There's a lot to play with there, and in a way, we get to keep exploring it with this choice.

I think it's good for future seasons as well, but mostly it's just this thing where people do get together with their exes. This is a common thing, and I liked being able to show the reality of this on-again, off-again relationship and the imperfection of that. Evan at the end of the season, makes a decision where you're like, "I guess that wasn't an expected decision, but it also does make a lot of sense," like you're saying. We actually went back and forth with it in the writers' room. We weren't quite sure how we were going to play that moment.

But the door still feels like it could be a little open for Harry in the future?

ALVAREZ: Yeah, and Malcolm immediately then goes and hooks up with something else, so it's not like Evan and Malcolm are getting monogamously married or something.

I did want to ask you about that last scene, with everyone by the pool.

ALVAREZ: I love that scene.

I've been told it was pretty cold, filming-wise to shoot. Is that your recollection as well?

ALVAREZ: Yeah, I was literally almost crying, and I was directing that episode too. Because I was in such thin clothing, a thin shirt, those short shorts, it was very cold. Watching that scene, I'm like, "Wow, I really sold the fact that it was not that cold, because I was freezing." These things just happen in production where you can't ever quite predict the weather. It had been warming up toward the end. It was spring, but that late at night... But also, we were in the home stretch, so I knew I just needed to grin and bear it. You get on these schedules when you're shooting, where you get used to waking up at 4 AM, 5 AM, and so then your body wants to be in bed at 9 PM. You try to work it forward through the week, but now you've got to be up until 3 AM, and it feels so late.

So we were very tired, I was very cold, but I love that scene. I remember in Dirty Dancing, they talked about how cold the water was in the scene where [Patrick Swayze] is doing the lifts with [Jennifer Grey]. For me, as an actor, sometimes stuff like that can help in a way, because it kind of wakes you up. I like our performances in that scene.

It feels like a moment that couldn't have happened at the beginning of the season.

ALVAREZ: They're all better friends than they ever have been. It's funny because I wonder if it just happens organically in the writing, where we as writers are getting to know the characters better, and we feel more comfortable with them, and even all the actors are getting more comfortable and becoming friends. I think it is a bit of an organic ending, where you start the season knowing that all these people like hanging out, although they argue a lot. And at the end, you see this tender moment where you're like, "This really is a beautiful group of friends." Maybe an unlikely group of friends, which is what's so special about it.

English Teacher is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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English Teacher

Comedy

English Teacher is a comedy series that follows Evan Marquez, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The series focuses on Evan and his colleagues as they navigate the challenges of modern education, dealing with both students and parents in an ever-changing social landscape.

Release Date

September 2, 2024

Cast

Brian Jordan Alvarez , Savanna Gann , Sarah Kopkin , Ben Bondurant , Treylan Newton , Matthew Smitley , Mason Douglas , Ralphael Lester

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

1

Watch on Hulu