Henson's casting was revealed during the series' panel at the Paley Center for Media's annual PaleyFest L.A. event.
Taraji P. Henson is joining the Abbott Elementary family and finally putting a face to Janine Teague's mommy issues.
Per Variety, the Empire actress will guest star as Quinta Brunson's TV mom, Vanetta, in the season's penultimate episode aptly titled "Mom." The news was announced on Saturday, during the show's panel at the Paley Center for Media's annual PaleyFest L.A. event. The panel included stars Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Ann Walter, Tyler James Wiliams and William Stanford Davis. Creator and star Brunson missed out on the panel to prepare for her Saturday Night Live debut.
In the upcoming episode, Janine's (Brunson) exciting plans for a solo trip over Memorial Day weekend are derailed when her mother, Vanetta (Henson), shows up unannounced and asks for help. In the meantime, Gregory (Williams) notices his colleagues are great at small talk and realizes he needs to brush up on his people skills.
Henson is the latest of the Teague family to make her appearance -- The Bear's Ayo Edebiri previously appeared on the ABC sitcom as Janine's sister, Ayesha.
The Abbott Elementary social media accounts later confirmed the casting news by sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of Henson and Brunson on set.
While Henson will only star in one episode of season 2, there's still hope she could make an appearance in the previously announced third season. The series has been on an award-winning kick and recently won big at the 2023 SAG Awards, winning Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series -- the first network comedy to do so since Modern Family in 2013.
Brunson opened up about the momentous win with ET backstage, sharing that receiving the award from the Screen Actors Guild "just hits different."
"These are our peers, these are people who do the same work that we do as actors. For them to think that we're deserving of this award, it just hits different, it really does," she noted.
Abbott Elementary's "Mom" airs at 9 p.m. ET on April 12.
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