The Community Movie Is Finally Happening, X-Files Star Accidentally Involved
Community: The Movie is finally official and is on its way to the streaming platform Peacock with most of the series' cast returning.
It’s taken 7 years, but Community fans can now rest assured that the final part of the oft-repeated “six seasons and a movie” promise is about to come true. As reported by Deadline, Community: The Movie has been ordered by Peacock, who apparently had to compete hard against other streaming services and studios for the opportunity. As you can see above, Joel McHale was so excited about the news he accidentally tagged Gillan Anderson of The X-Files fame rather than his Community co-star Gillian Jacobs, though at least Anderson didn’t seem to mind.
Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong will all be returning to the Colorado community college for the feature. Series creator Dan Harmon returns to write and executive produce the film; but while Harmon has worked as a director in the past, Deadline’s report doesn’t list him–or anyone else–as Community: The Movie‘s director.
If Gillian Anderson were to get a part in the movie, it would make at least one science fiction icon because unfortunately LeVar Burton likely won’t be stopping by. The Star Trek alum showed up in a couple of Community episodes to freak out Donald Glover’s Troy, and according to Deadline the Atlanta star will not return for the movie. Yvette Nicole Brown will also not be reprising her role, nor will Chevy Chase though that’s hardly a surprise considering his character was killed off after he left the series.
Among many other things, Community was known for its wonderful cast of recurring characters, though there isn’t any word on which–if any–of those actors will show up. Richard Erdman, who played the elderly student Leonard, sadly passed away in 2019. However we would hope such Greendale mainstays as Star-Burns (Dino Stamotopoulos), the ultra-nerdy Garrett (Erik Charles Nielsen), and the catchphrase-led Magnitude (Luke Youngblood) would find their way into Community: The Movie.
One has to imagine that it feels pretty good for Harmon and the Community cast to find Peacock fighting to get their movie. It was NBC, part of the same parent company, who canceled the series after five seasons. The sixth and final season streamed on the since closed Yahoo Screen, making it one of the first examples of a series that moved from a linear network to a streaming platform.
The news about the Community movie comes after months of teases from members of the series’ former cast and crew. In August, while promoting her romantic comedy thriller Spin Me Round, Alison Brie confirmed that things were going on behind the scenes that made the film’s realization seem closer than ever. A couple of weeks later, Dan Harmon said things had gotten to the point where it was finally not a question of if the movie would be made, but when.
No doubt once the Community movie arrives, fans will be waiting for surprise appearances by actors like Glover and Brown, in spite of the actors apparently officially not appearing. If the series is any judge, Harmon will make sure to play with those expectations as much as he can. However, we have to say, if Glover doesn’t at least make a post-credits cameo for one more “Troy & Abed in the Morning,” there might be a riot that would make all the campus-wide paintball competitions look like Kindergarten nap time in comparison.
