Dan Harmon, the creator of the hit NBC sitcom Community, has officially confirmed that a movie based on the same premise as the series is in development. A Community movie has been a hot topic among fans of the show ever since its sixth and final season concluded in 2015, but Harmon has also confirmed that the movie has just entered development and may take a while to hit the silver screen.
Community, which first premiered on NBC in 2009, features Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a disbarred and disgraced lawyer who’s been forced to attend Glendale Community College in Colorado, where he reluctantly forms a study group will fellow students Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), Troy Barnes (Donald Glover), Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown), Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase), and Annie Edison (Alison Brie). The sitcom series follows the group as they get roped into each others’ misadventures and eventually become close friends while assisting college dean Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) and battling scheming math teacher Ben Chang (Ken Jeong).
The History Behind Dan Harmon and the ‘Community’ Movie
The first five seasons of Community aired on NBC, usually in the 8/7c Thursday timeslot, but with the premiere of the sixth season, the show was moved to Yahoo! Screen before the series concluded in June 2015. Along with the main series, a handful of webisodes starring the same characters were released during the show’s run, but while a movie has been reportedly in the works since 2015, no official word has confirmed the existence of a Community movie – until now.
Showrunner and creator Dan Harmon officially announced yesterday that a Community movie is in development, stating that “There is an outline for it…There’s a product put together and pitched out in the world.” However, Harmon has also warned Community fans against expecting a movie immediately, or even quickly, telling Newsweek that “‘Yes, it’s definitely going to happen, but it may be between one and eight years from now’ — which is how the industry works, especially when you factor in pandemics and whatnot…It just takes so long.”
According to Variety, Harmon and the rest of the crew behind Community initially promised fans a movie upon the conclusion of the original sitcom, with ended with a title card that read “…And a movie.” The show’s cast, including comedian Donald Glover, reaffirmed their interest in doing a Community movie during a cast reunion in 2020. Still, there have been no official announcements regarding the casting or plot of the eventual movie.
