Tayyaba
Along with the many movies that have been delayed due to the WGA (Writers Guild Association) writers strike, the long-awaited Community movie has joined the list. ‘Community’ has had 6 seasons come out as a TV series, 5 with NBC from 2009 to 2014, and season 6 with the now-defunct streaming service Yahoo! Screen, airing in 2015. In 2022 the streaming service Peacock (owned by NBCUniversal) officially green-lit a film following the #SixSeasonsAndAMovie prophecy circulated by fans. Now Joel McHale has confirmed that the project has been delayed just as filming was about to begin.
Joel McHale’s comments on the Community movie:
The very anticipated ‘Community’ movie has definitely been delayed but star Joel McHale offers a positive update on the production. McHale has told TVline that it was due shooting this month, and he thinks that “was a bummer” that it got delayed because they were “getting very close”. At the same time Joel absolutely supports the writers in this venture claiming that “the writers need to be paid” and that he’s “a thousand billion percent behind the writers”. His positive update is that the Community movie will still happen after the strike is over. Joel also commented that “When this strike is over, we’ll come back and we’ll make it”.
“’Six seasons and a movie’ started out as a cheeky line from ‘Community’s early seasons and quickly ignited a passionate fan movement for this iconic, hilarious, and cool (cool, cool) NBC comedy. We’re incredibly grateful that 15 years later, we are able to deliver fans this promised movie and can’t wait to get to work with Dan Harmon, Andrew Guest, Joel McHale, Sony, and our partners at UTV to continue this epic comedy for Peacock audiences.“
Susan Rovner, chairperson of NBCUniversal
Which of the cast is expected to be in the movie?
It has been previously confirmed that McHale would be back in his role as Jeff Winger, with Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir, Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry, Jim Rash as Dean Craig Pelton and Ken Jeong as Ben Chang. From the initial cast list Donald Glover as Troy Barnes and Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett were absent, but later the creator of Community Dan Harmon clarified that they would likely be back as well, hinting that their deals hadn’t been finalized yet, but it is very plausible. It is confirmed that Chevy Chase will not be back for the movie as his character, Pierce, was killed off in season 5 after Chase left the show under acrimonious circumstances.