‘Abbott Elementary”s Sheryl Lee Ralph Says Janine and Gregory Will ‘Need Therapy’ (Exclusive)

Sheryl Lee Ralph thinks only therapy can help her Abbott Elementary costars’ characters.

On Thursday, Sept. 12, the Emmy-winning actress, 67, attended the PEOPLE x IHG Hotel & Resorts Conversation with Abbott Elementary at the Kimpton Everly Hotel in Los Angeles, where she dished on Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory Eddie’s (Tyler James Williams) future.

“They need therapy, therapy, therapy!” Ralph, who stars as Barbara Howard, said before discussing Janine and Gregory’s kiss in the season 3 finale.

Ralph said she struggled to watch the scene being filmed, comparing it to a mother watching her children doing grown-up things.

“I was just like, ‘I can’t watch it! I can’t watch it!‘ I had to move away from the screen because it was like a mother looking at your grown children doing grown things,” Ralph told PEOPLE. “And I can’t see it! I remember thinking they’re going to do the zambohoochies. It’s going to be something. And I just think about that and I’m just like, ‘Oh my God, my kids are growing up.’ It made me nervous.”

Lisa Ann Walter, who stars as Melissa Schemmenti, Chris Perfetti, who portrays Jacob Hill, and William Stanford Davis, known as Mr. Johnson on the ABC sitcom, were also present for the kiss.

“It was such a great moment. And they have such incredible chemistry,” Perfetti, 35, said of Brunson and Williams.

“They’re such great actors that every single time they did it, it was different and it was profound in a new way. It was such a cool moment and now I feel like we should talk s— about them,” he quipped.

Walter, 61, also weighed in on the evolution of Janine and Gregory’s love story. 

“Number one, I love that the trajectory of their romance, their relationship, in a way they’re not boyfriend girlfriend, they have partners, but that they are really truly good friends,” she said.

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“And I think that’s what you see when you’re watching them on the show. They’re really there for each other. But I have a question, which is why were you on set watching them kiss?” Walter continued. “Personally, I left them alone all week because they had to go and do that scene.”

Perfetti added that he was not “checking in” with Brunson, 34, or Williams, 31, during filming — which led Walter to joke that he was “watching secretly.”

Season 4 of Abbott Elementary premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 9:30 pm on ABC.