Joel McHale’s Community Movie Sequel Gets Amazing Update
Joel McHale said that the Community film would be starting production this summer.
Ever since Community was canceled back in 2015, diehard fans of the show have spent years campaigning for a movie sequel. Although the long-awaited film was officially announced last September, movement on the project has been slow up until recently. According to Collider, series star Joel McHale recently revealed during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live that filming for the picture would begin in June.
While McHale was on the show to promote his upcoming series Animal Control, Kimmel managed to get the actor to provide an update about the Community movie sequel, a film follow-up fans have been begging for. “We’re making the Community movie in June, so…Thanks for remembering,” he joked after the host prodded him about the sequel. “I can say Ken Jeong’s gonna be in it,” he added.
Community originally premiered on NBC in 2009, where it aired for five seasons. The network axed the series due to a decline in viewership, but it was picked up by Yahoo! Screen for a sixth season shortly after. Even before the show was canceled again at its second home, discussions of a Community movie sequel were already taking place.
The comedy series centered on a study group at the fictional Greendale Community College. In addition to Jeong, it starred Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, and Jim Rash, who McHale confirmed to Kimmel would all reprise their roles in the upcoming movie sequel. Yvette Brown, Donald Glover, and Chevy Chase were also part of the show’s cast, but it’s currently unknown if they’ll return for the film.
Considering Chase had a very public falling out over Community, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be a part of the movie sequel. The actor, now 79, was frequently vocal about his unhappiness with the program itself and his role in the series. During a now-infamous outburst on the show’s set, he reportedly shouted the N-word in front of his black costars, which left them very upset.
In addition to the controversy surrounding Chase, there was plenty of other drama that took place behind the scenes in Community. Creator Dan Harmon was fired from his position as showrunner on the series shortly after it was renewed for a fourth season, however, he was brought back for Seasons 5 and 6. It was actually his pitch for the film last August that really got the ball rolling on the long-awaited movie sequel.
Along with Harmon, McHale, Andrew Guest, Russ Krasnoff, and Gary Foster are attached as executive producers on the project. Harmon also penned the script for the Community movie sequel, and although he has yet to reveal any details regarding the story, McHale indicated during an interview with The Wrap that viewers may need a tissue. The actor admitted to bawling like a baby after the first table read.
After Peacock snapped up the rights to the film in a highly competitive bid, the upcoming Community movie sequel will stream exclusively on the NBC-owned platform once it’s released. In the meantime, all six seasons of the hit comedy series are currently streaming on Netflix. Now is your chance to catch up with all 110 episodes ahead of the film’s release.
