Community Movie Now Fully Cancelled?
In 2022, after years of persistent social media pushing by dedicated fans, Peacock announced the return of Community in the form of a movie with the projected filming date to be in the summer of 2023. But now series creator Dan Harmon seems to be questioning whether or not the possibly prophetic fanbase hashtag, #sixseasonsandamovie will come to fruition post-strike.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Harmon cast doubt on whether or not the Community movie will materialize. With the Writer’s Guild and the SAG-AFTRA strikes, the latter of which is still active, production of the Community movie was instead put on indefinite hold. Speaking about the delays with THR, Harmon said, “By the time we can recoordinate, what are the odds that everyone’s schedule is going to once again align?”
“And that’s the fandom that’s been the most supportive of me, all told, and has endured the most for supporting me.”
–Community creator Dan Harmon on the fandom
The ensemble cast was the heart of the show, and for the movie to embody all the elements that made it successful, the cast needed to be together, face to face, interacting with each other in the same space. The core group, Joe McHale, Danni Pudi, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Gillian Jacobs, and Donald Glover, are all set to reprise their roles.
With breakout star Donald Glover in high demand, the shooting location of the Community movie was already shifted from LA to Atlanta to accommodate Glover’s other obligations, including a Star Wars universe Lando movie. Alison Brie and Yvette Nicole Brown also have busy schedules with movies and television appearances that must all be taken into account to get the movie made that dedicated Community fans deserve.
“By the time we can recoordinate, what are the odds that everyone’s schedule is going to once again align?”
–Community creator Dan Harmon on the possibility of a movie materializing
Not all of the original Community cast members will be returning. Chevy Chase has been quite outspoken about his lack of participation in the movie. Given the cantankerous relationship between Chase and the other members of the cast and team, it comes as no surprise that he is not going to be involved in it.
This bump in the road is far from the first obstacle in the continuation of Community. When the show was canceled by NBC after Season 5, fans used social media to push for Season 6 and won when Yahoo! announced that it had picked up the show.
While it was not officially canceled, there was no season 7. The actors’ contracts were up after six years, and many of them went on to do other television shows and movies.
The expectations of those devoted fans have been both a driving force and a concern for Harmon, who does not want to disappoint them after all of their support. Speaking of them, Harmon said, “And that’s the fandom that’s been the most supportive of me, all told, and has endured the most for supporting me.”
Community creator Dan Harmon casts doubt about the movie because of the delays caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Time and again over the years, the idea of a movie has been bandied about by the fans, the actors, and the creator. In May of 2020, much of the cast reunited for a charity table read of the episode “Cooperative Polygraphy,” during the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to a Q&A session where the movie topic was broached and got a very positive reception from all the parties involved.
While the Writer’s strike might be over, SAG-AFTRA is still marching on the picket line. Negotiations are underway, with talks resuming on October 4, and only time will tell if the studios and the unions can reach an agreement in a timely manner.
When that happens and projects can begin moving ahead, filming schedules, especially for high-demand actors and actresses, will fill up very quickly and fans will have to hope that those schedules will include the Community movie.
