Since the new year began, school has been back in session with new episodes of Abbott Elementary airing on ABC and releasing on Hulu every week in January. These new episodes included a three-part event that found the teachers of Abbott Elementary pivoting and conducting classes at an abandoned shopping mall. And they thought controlling students in their own classrooms was tough!
However, after a long string of brand-new episodes keeping us in laughter since 2026 began, Abbott Elementary season 5 will soon take an extended break. The Emmy Award-winning comedy series received quite the disappointing scheduling news from ABC that already has fans frustrated. But there's a simple reason why school will be out. Plus, we know when new episodes return!
Abbott Elemtentary returns with new episodes in March 2026
As announced on the official Abbott Elementary Instagram account, the series will be taking off three of the four Wednesdays in February. Due to avoiding conflicts with NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, ABC will be pulling new episodes of season 5 from its Wednesday night lineup. Following the new episode airing on Wednesday, Feb. 4, Abbott Elementary will be off for the next three weeks.
Naturally, fans flooded the comments section with their concerns and frustrations, with many complaining that the season has taken too many breaks. While it's true that there have been plenty of stretches without new episodes, the past instances of reruns have been because of the holidays. Those breaks happen every year and are pre-planned annually from the network.
But this stretch of reruns is a special circumstance that doesn't happen very often. While we would love to have new episodes airing every week, ABC rightfully doesn't want to hinder the enjoyment of new Abbott Elementary episodes (or any of its other original series for that matter) as the Olympics become top of mind for a large portion of the television viewing population.
Thankfully, we can pencil in on our calendars the return date for new Abbott Elementary episodes. Season 5 resumes on Wednesday, March 4, and also has episodes scheduled to air on March 11 and March 18. ABC currently hasn't confirmed how many episodes will be contained in season 5, but if there are 22 like last seasons, there will be nine more episodes left to air beginning in March.
Before heading off into a three-week hiatus, Abbott Elementary season 5 episode 13, which is titled "Candygrams," celebrates Valentine's Day and finds the teachers noticing the love in the air at school. As the synopsis shares by ABC states, "It’s Valentine’s Day at Abbott, and the teachers find themselves meddling in students’ love lives while navigating their own."
Abbott will be sending us off on its temporary break with plenty of laughs to hold us over until March. While we wait for season 5 to resume, catch up on every season 5 episode so far on Hulu (and Disney+ with a bundle subscription). The series' first four seasons are also available to stream on HBO Max. The bell will ring for classes to be back in session before we know it!