Six seasons and a movie! The prophecy has been fulfilled!
Well, it's going to be, anyway.
Community was beloved by many when it premiered on NBC way back in 2009, igniting careers for some of its cast and crew such as Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi and so many others, but since its ending in 2015, fans have been wondering if a side-comment made about The Cape that was said in Season 2 of the show would come true for Community.
Community ended up getting those six seasons, but it’s been long rumored and hoped for that a movie might someday happen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cast got back together for a virtual table reading of one of their scripts, reigniting those rumors of a possible movie, and in August 2022, Community creator Dan Harmon all but confirmed it was happening.
And now, the Community movie has officially been announced. But when exactly is this film going to come out? Or who is going to return back to Greendale Community College? If you’ve been asking these questions, here are some things we know – as well as one bonus item – about the upcoming film.
The Movie Will Premiere On Peacock
The announcement came at the end of September. According to Deadline, the Community movie is actually going to be premiering on the streaming service, Peacock, NBC’s exclusive streaming platform for their shows.
Community has been streaming on Netflix for years at this point, with all six seasons, and is arguably one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, in my opinion. But, as the Deadline article said, Peacock won the rights to the film in a “competitive situation.”
It’s not that big of a shocker that the movie should land at Peacock, considering that Community originally aired on NBC, and ever since its cancellation it’s only grown in popularity through streaming platforms like Netflix. And it was also announced in the Deadline article that Peacock is also working on acquiring the full series on a “non-exclusive basis,” which could mean that Community will eventually be on both Peacock and Netflix – but the film will solely be on Peacock.
Several Community Stars Are Confirmed To Return
Confirmed with the Deadline article, we know now that several of the original stars of the Community cast are set to return for the sequel film. This includes Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry, Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir, Jim Rash as Craig Pelton and Ken Jeong as Ben Chang.
All of the above were big characters on the show, and have gone on to do plenty of great things in the movie and TV industry since the series ended. Danny Pudi has starred in the Apple TV+ series, Mythic Quest, as well as voiced Huey Duck on the reboot of Ducktales. Alison Brie has been in several big films such as The Post, Promising Young Woman, Happiest Season and more. Ken Jeong has gone on to appear in films such as Crazy Rich Asians, Tom & Jerry, and more while also working as a panelist on the hit reality show, The Masked Singer.
However, it’s exciting to see them all come back together again for the sequel film. Joel McHale, the star of Community, even tweeted out his excitement for the film, simply tweeting “.” while tagging his former cast members Twitter handles before the film was officially announced.
.@alisonbrie @kenjeong @dannypudi @YNB @donaldglover @GillianA @peacock @SonyTV @CommunityTV pic.twitter.com/ynVqgaPuQDSeptember 30, 2022
However, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown And Others Are Not Confirmed To Return (Yet, Anyway)
But there are plenty of other characters from the original cast that are not confirmed to come back. Per the Deadline article from before, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown are also not confirmed to return.
With Chevy Chase, that’s not that surprising, as even the Deadline article reported that Chase has problems with Harmon behind-the-scenes. Yvette Nicole Brown exited the show before the final season, as did Donald Glover.
However, Dan Harmon was also quick to say that Glover’s return might still happen, as well as Brown’s. In an interview with Variety, Harmon said that fans should still keep their hopes up.
I think that Donald is coming, based on word of mouth, but it’s just the deal isn’t official or wasn’t official. It would be difficult to really commit to doing this thing without Donald. So I believe he is coming back. I think if there’s names missing from a list, it’s because the names that are on the list, their deals are agreed upon enough that it’s OK to say they are on the list, and anybody that’s not on a list, it’s just not the case yet. So there is nothing official about anybody being out.
If fans of the show recall, both Glover and Brown exited the show in Season 5. But if they were to return for the movie, that would be something that fans would enjoy the heck out of.
Dan Harmon And Andrew Guest Will Write The Film
Confirmed with the Deadline article, Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, is set to write the film alongside Andrew Guest, who has written on shows such as 30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and of course, Community, where he wrote six episodes.
While the screenwriters are set, Harmon is not set to direct the film. However, he does have people in mind, according to the statement that was in the Variety article.
There’s a director that directed some of my favorite episodes of ‘Community’ that it would be great to see be able to do the movie. And that’s not even mentioning the Russo Brothers, who I would also love to see come back. But I’m just making the assumption that they’re too busy ... But we haven’t had any official, legitimate conversations with people. Sony’s strategy was, let’s make this a project that exists and then we’ll talk about attaching directors. I think they’re doing that because, depending on the size of that director, the director could then make the deal more complicated to close.
I’m sure that as more news begins to come out about the film, we’ll get an update on who is set to direct this film. But wow, could you imagine the Russo Brothers returning to comedy after directing the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame? I would adore them in the Community world again, but only time will tell.
The Community Movie Is Happening, But There's No Set Release Date
While this isn’t technically a thing we know, it’s worth mentioning. The Community movie is happening, but we have no idea when the film is going to come out.
This isn’t that surprising, since it was only just officially announced and a director hasn’t even been revealed yet, so don’t expect it to be on any 2022 movie release schedule or possibly even the 2023 release schedule.
With this news in mind, I can’t wait to see where this Community movie goes and how our characters are going to return to Greendale after being away from it for so long. Are we going to get Troy and Abed in the morning again? Another Spanish rap? All these questions I need answers to.
