Six Seasons And A Movie: The Community Movie Is Happening, And It’s Happening This Year
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It’s happening, people. It’s been ten long, anxious years since season six of Community finished… and we’re finally getting our movie.
How do I describe Community? The premise is simple: six students at Greendale Community College form a study group to learn Spanish – and so that Jeff (played by Joel McHale) can sleep with Britta (Gillian Jacobs). That’s how it starts. How it ends is with six seasons of insanity, hilarity, darker timelines, paintball, pillow forts, an AC repair fraternity, and so much more.
One of the things that always set Community apart was its ability to constantly reinvent itself. Episodes explored different genres, parodied famous movies, and even delved into alternate realities. The show never shied away from taking risks. Some worked out, some didn’t, but these risks made Community one of the most innovative and original sitcoms of its time.
Back in season 2, Abed (Dani Pudi), made a throwaway comment that a show he loved, which was doomed to run for only one season, would instead last for “six seasons and a movie.” Life for the cast, creators, and fans of Community was never the same after that. The line popped up repeatedly during the series’ six-season-long run, and fans have been waiting for the final, feature-length installment ever since.
That’s not to say the movie was always a sure thing. Community, like many long-running shows, experienced its share of bumps and bruises. Creator Dan Harmon’s removal from the helm for season 4 was an unpopular decision among many fans and critics and saw a significant drop in the show’s ratings. Things picked up when Harmon returned for season 5, but the show had to move to Yahoo! Screen for its sixth and final season after NBC canceled it. We lost beloved characters along the way; saying goodbye to Troy (Donald Glover) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) in many ways felt like the beginning of the end. After such a long hiatus, seeing them reunite will bring up a lot of feelings.
Because yes, all the original cast, with the exception of Chevy Chase, have confirmed they are on board for the movie, which will reportedly begin shooting later this year. Exact details of the plot are still under wraps, but, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in February, Donald Glover disclosed it will involve a college reunion, Abed as a big-shot director, and the kind of meta, fourth-wall-breaking brilliance that only Community can deliver.
Dan Harmon talked a little about what we can expect from the movie in an episode of Six Seasons and a Podcast – or rather, he told us what has been ruled out so far. Harmon talked about the “special episodes” that were “genre homages” and how they’re “emblematic of what made our show special”. But he said that he won’t be re-using an old premise, like paintball or Dungeons and Dragons, as the basis of the movie’s plot, saying “Would anything ever capture the joy of the original paintball episode?” He also revealed that the movie won’t revolve around Greendale’s “demise or resurrection”, noting that “you don’t want too much of your movie to be spent unrecognizable.” He said that “the world, and not these characters, has changed so significantly that there’s a lot to deal with. They haven’t been together in a long time… there’s a reason to get together and there’s a reason they have to stay together.”
So overall, much like the Greendale students, we’ve learned a little, but there’s still a lot we don’t know. Other than our beloved main cast, which recurring and side characters will rejoin us? Is Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) still as in love with Jeff as ever? And maybe the biggest question – will Jeff and Annie (Alison Brie) finally happen? Let us know your hopes and predictions in the comments! And don’t forget to sign up to our email list to get Finds of the Week and our free newsletter, PopPulse Digest, delivered straight to your inbox each and every week.
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