Community arguably the most unlikely television success story of the twenty-first century. The show was about to be canceled for the entire series, but managed to stay on the air for six seasons, even managing to continue after its creator, Dan Harmon, was fired and rehired between its inception and the end of season four. Other than that Dan Harmon-less fourth season, Community even held up well despite cast changes and a move to the completely forgotten Yahoo screen for the past year.
There are over a hundred episodes of Community, which is the traditional threshold for a successful sitcom. However, none of this would have been possible without the show’s die-hard fans, who made a throwaway joke about The cloak and turned it into a slogan: six seasons and a movie.
The fact that we got six seasons of the meta-comedy was enough for most, but there was always a latent desire to complete the last part of that unintended prophecy. The cast and writers behind the show have been promising a movie for a while, but nothing came of it until last week when Peacock announced it would finally happen. The release of the film is still a long way off, but seen Community‘s lingering precariousness, confirmation that a movie is taking place at all, is enough for now.
In the meantime, here’s everything we know about the highly anticipated project.
So far, nothing has been revealed about the film’s potential story, which will be written by Dan Harmon and Andrew Guest, according to Deadline. When we last saw the Save Greendale Committee, formerly known as the Study Group, they were trying to figure out what the next “season” of their lives might be like, but it seemed unlikely that all of them would be what’s in the movie. would happen. At the end of the series finale, both Abed and Annie, the youngest members of the group, leave Greendale to move on with their lives, so something has to happen to bring them back into the fold.
A fan favorite for the plot of the film would feature the study group rescuing Troy Barnes and LeVar Burton from pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. When Donald Glover left Community to work on Atlantawhose final season is currently airing, the in-universe statement was that he set out to circumnavigate the world on a boat with LeVar Burton to receive his inheritance from the recently deceased Pierce Hawthorne.
In a later episode, observant viewers noticed an on-screen news sticker reported about Troy and Burton’s abductions by pirates, and no updates on his whereabouts have been given since then. However, this would require Donald Glover to be part of the film, which would be a difficult undertaking given his busy schedule.
In addition to announcing that the movie is indeed going to take place, we also got some news about the cast for the movie. Thankfully, at least all of the cast that stayed on the show over the six seasons are coming back. Joel McHale returns as former attorney Jeff Winger, along with Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry, Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir, Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Ken Jeong as Ben Chang and Oscar-winning screenwriter Jim Rash as Craig Pelton. It wouldn’t be a Community film without at least these actors, but there are still some noticeable omissions.
Unsurprisingly, Chevy Chase isn’t coming back to play Pierce Hawthorne, but the lack of Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover’s names on the list is disappointing. Glover rose to fame after leaving the show, so his absence seemed almost inevitable, but Brown has made cameos on the show since she left. Deadline reports that neither of them will be returning, but perhaps they will, albeit in a smaller capacity.
In addition, three latecomers are also missing from the show, Jonathan Banks as Professor Buzz Hickey, Keith David as Elroy Patashnik, and Paget Brewster as Francesca “Frankie” Dart. Hopefully, some of the show’s many guest stars, such as John Goodman, Jack Black, and LeVar Burton, will at least make a brief impression.
Publication date
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While there is currently no official release date, it will presumably be released next year if everything goes according to plan (which is rarely the case for Community). It’s amazing that this weird show has thrived for so long, but this movie is just the icing on the cake. We already have six great television seasons to watch endlessly. But at the same time, any opportunity to spend more time with Greendale’s students and faculty is something we should be grateful for when it comes.