All we know
All we know
Embedded Files
How to read this
How to read this
This page is in order of events. The most current information we have is at the top except the recap below.
10-12-2022: In an interview on You Can't Disappoint a Podcast, Andrew Guest (co-writer and executive producer) shared these nuggets (podcast link here):
The movie talk began in December of 2019 and it started with Sony saying that it's time.
Dan asked Andrew Guest to help write the movie in May of 2020.
Gillian Anderson asked to be in the movie because of Joel's mistake in the announcement (here)!
Andrew and Dan want everyone who wants to be a part of the movie in it.
They have had multiple directors contact them already.
Tentative schedules have been shared, but nothing is fixed. 2023 feels very quick.
Peacock began including Community: The Movie in its 2023 advertising (December 2022)
Dan talked with Alex of Six Seasons and a podcast (here) and talked about what the movie won't have and the fans in December 2022.
The movie will not be an homage (Paintball, DnD, etc), but closer to The Big Chill
Greendale has to be functioning
They will have a reason to come back together and stay together for a while (it won't take place in a single night).
Joel McHale said on The Tonight Show that filming begins in June (January 2023)
In February while promoting Somebody I Used to Know, Alison Brie and Danny Pudi both said they heard filming starts in June, and they would clear their schedules for it.
In March Joel McHale said that they were on schedule.
December 23, 2022, Dan was interviewed on Six Seasons and a Podcast about what they were doing (including not doing in the movie). He talked about how important the fans have continued to be, and how he doesn't want to let them down.
October-08-2022: During a standup event with Joel and Ken, the movie came up, and Joel said, "Everyone will be there. Mark my words."
10/08/2022, Dan was interviewed here as part of a NYCC 2022 for Krapopolis, said he expected Donald to be in the movie, and he was, in context, talking about both Donald and Yvette.
The Text of the Press Release
The Text of the Press Release
- In a highly competitive situation, Peacock announced today the long-awaited COMMUNITY movie, based on the Emmy Award-winning, critically-acclaimed fan-favorite NBC comedy series.
- Original stars Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong will reunite with Joel McHale as an executive producer. The movie will come from original series creator Dan Harmon, executive producer Andrew Guest, and from studios Sony Pictures Television and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
- Peacock is also acquiring the full series library (non-exclusively).
- COMMUNITY THE MOVIE: from the TV series that predicted its own movie, comes the least predictable movie of a TV series that referenced a lot of movies and TV.
- “‘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,” said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “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.”
- “Community was light years ahead of its time when it premiered on NBC in 2009 and we are thrilled to once again visit the brilliant minds of Dan Harmon, Andrew Guest and this impeccable cast. We are grateful to Peacock, our partners at UTV and to all the zealous fans who have cherished this iconic show.” – Jason Clodfelter, Co-President, Sony Pictures Television Studios
- “This franchise is the very definition of community,” said Erin Underhill, President, Universal Television. “We’re excited to bring the band back together and continue the journey of these beloved characters.”
What the Press Release says and implies
What the Press Release says and implies
It was shopped to multiple platforms. We know they shopped it with Netflix (Dan thinks he ruined the Netflix pitch) and Amazon Prime. The money was close for all according to Dan.
Joel has probably been involved from the beginning [EP status]
the full time cast members from the end of season 6 are the only cast members mentioned
Andrew Guest is probably the main writer working from Dan's outline
The Russo's are not involved at this point. There is no director yet either, but I suspect that Rob Schrab was the original planned director with the Russo Brothers as EPs for the Netflix proposal.
Peacock will be the 4th streaming platform Community is on in the US, excluding Youtube (Hulu, Netflix, & Amazon Prime).
Community the Movie is the working title.
Whoever wrote that meta paragraph needs a drink.
15 years later is saying that they expect to have this out in 2024 (2009 + 15). I have heard 2023, but I don't know where they are getting that.
They don't know to say 'Streets Ahead.'
FAQ about the Movie news so far
FAQ about the Movie news so far
Since Yvette and Donald are not named in the press release, will they be part of the movie?
Most Probably. They were not full time cast at the end of the series, and I think that's why they are not yet listed, but most likely, they are also not included because no contract is in place yet to say they are included, and by stretching this out, they will get free press before production. There's also a fair chance that Paget Brewster and Keith David have a role. We know from earlier that Dan had an outline for the story (I am sure it is a circle too). How they accomplish the points on the outline determines who they need and how much they need them.
Can I share my script ideas?
No. Anyone writing the script or involved with the creation of the show, can't look at it. It's not you. It's something their lawyers would warn them about every single day. You may genuinely want to help, but they can't know that for sure. There are real grifters in this category who sue just to be paid to go away.
When will it be available?
The press release doesn't say exactly, but they said 2009 and 15 years so I assume they expect a 2024 release.
Why should we trust Andrew Guest to get this right?
Andrew wrote 5 episodes of Community: Advanced Criminal Law, Romantic Expressionism, Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples, Advanced DnD, & A Fistful of Paintballs (the third highest ranked episode of Community on IMDb), has worked on B99, & was brought in to re-write the Hawkeye series as an executive producer by Disney on the recommendation of Joe Russo.
Why not Chevy?
No, and a hard no, because of Chevy. Chevy has made it clear that he accepts he did a lot of bad things in the past, but he doesn't care to apologize for any of it, including racist remarks to Yvette and Donald, and no telling how many sexists statements he's made (he spent season 3 asking Gillian if she got a boob job over the summer).
2022
2022
Jim Rash was interviewed on The Hole podcast (released 9/24/2022), and he was asked about the movie, and he said he was of course excited, and cautiously optimistic, but he also included that it wasn't just from Dan, but it also Andrew Guest was helping write it. This is the first confirmation that someone is writing it other than Dan. The Hole 352: Jim Rash Interview moment.
He also confirmed that the table read was important, and importantly Donald was there.
Dan was interviewed in August of 2022 and he said that an outline and a pitch (meeting with Sony is assumed) made for the Community movie. It was a matter of when and not if. Newsweek's Tweet.
And here on The Wrap, Dan said that contracts and agreements were happening.
Alison Brie said multiple times in August while promoting her movie, Spin Me Around, that talks were going on and they were further along than they have ever been. https://www.newsweek.com/allison-brie-community-movie-joel-mchale-danny-pudi-dan-harmon-1734109
Danny Pudi was asked at Comic-Con San Diego about it a movie, and he said "talks" as well. This was the first time we heard the term "talks" being used. We know that Alison and Yvette were called all the way back in 2020, but this was new. https://twitter.com/luckycharmstv/status/1550628661748854784
2021
2021
The Movie Dweeb podcast episode with Yvette Nicole Brown dropped the second week of September, she said, that everyone wants to do it, there have been conversations ... there is now just logistic issues. https://youtu.be/tPVeAPPYMJU?t=1756
Joel McHale was interviewed on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and said that he used to lie about it, but "now...I think the things are in place." About 41 minutes in. https://omny.fm/shows/conan-o-brien-needs-a-friend/joel-mchale
Dan was interviewed on the Good One Podcast July 15th, and he said that he's getting to think about how the story should go because the locks are falling off (starts 1:24:30 minutes into the conversation). https://open.spotify.com/episode/2scr4BgpDYvE9CRGJH0rxe?si=GpFDPGUsQZuOTFYkB90PyA&dl_branch=1
Dan posted on Instagram June 25th, 2021 that said this:
It’s a little obnoxious to share memes about your TV shows but it’s a little unhealthy not to share what makes you happy. You are not forgotten communistas. Whenever there’s one set of footprints there’s a zoom meeting somewhere #sixseasonsandasteadybutcautiousbuildofincreasinglyexcitingspeculation
This was after replying to a fan who replied to Dan's post about being obsessed with Loki, that it seemed no Community movie was possible, Dan replied: "you are far from correct on this but try to understand that this was also far from correct a full year ago and if I had said as much back then, this would have been an even more frustrating year for eager community fans than if I'd said nothing. I opted for the latter because it's the safe way to keep good fans from feeling extreme frustration about how long these things can take.
In April 2021, it was announced that Sony (the owner's of Community) and Netflix have struck a deal for Sony Theatrical releases starting in 2022.
2020
2020
In November 12, 2020, a fan complained in Instagram that Dan should have spent the pandemic on the script, and his replies were: "stay tuned" and, "more like I had all of quarantine to wait for a lot of lawyers to make a deal but my quarantine will never end and the people have been heard!"
The Table Read, interview, and DarkestTimeline Podcast dropped May 18, 2020.
The Table read was recorded in early May of 2020, but it wasn't released automatically, but Dan did reply to reporters that talks fan wanted to happen were happening.
I think it is Jim Rash who started the idea of a table read for the World Kitchen Relief Fund, and it is Joel that gets everyone on board so in early May, the whole cast (excluding Chevy), recorded a table read of Cooperative Polygraphy. After the table read, the cast did an interview with E! and everyone was asked about the movie, and everyone said yes, including Donald.
Then Community hit Netflix in April of 2020 during the pandemic (PLEASE GOD let this be the only pandemic I have to reference), and millions who had never seen the show started watching. It trended for weeks in the Netflix top 10. Exceptionally strong showing for a show 5 years past when it last aired.
In February 2020, Alison Brie mentioned that she got an interesting call from someone in her Reddit AMA. This was later confirmed to be from Sony and Yvette had received a similar call.
Before 2020
Before 2020
Sony had no way of knowing what it had, because Community was a mess. For a year it wasn't even whole. 5 seasons were on Hulu. 1 was on Yahoo Screen, and Yahoo Screen was a mess until it mercifully died, and when season 6 was available on Hulu until August 2016, it didn't move the needle. https://www.polygon.com/2016/8/15/12486084/community-hulu-streaming
Streaming rights were shopped in November 2019 (link in the Andrew Guest interview above).
For the 10 year anniversary, the cast (and Dan and Chris McKenna) met and talked at Vulture Fest in 2019, and not only did they spend an hour in a packed auditorium, they went out to eat afterwards, and Donald joined them, and apparently, everyone had an absolute blast (Ken got really drunk apparently and Alison had to leave early).
Dan said for years that writing the movie would be emotionally brutal (2016). To pore his heart into a script without knowing if it could ever happen, would have been devastating both to create and then to find out he can't get the cast back to do it. Here's an interview with Larry King explaining it. He does say in October of 2017 that he expects the movie (I think the reason Dan would never consider writing the movie was he didn't want to go back without Donald).
Dan mentions in a 2017 interview with Time Magazine that he had begun talking to directors.
Dan has said for years that everyone (including the mega successful Russo Brothers and Justin Lin) was asked about a Community movie. Cast interviewed? Someone asked. We responded with hope, but it wasn't really likely.
Donald was pretty clear he was never coming back for Community. https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/09/donald-glover-explains-why-he-didnt-return-to-community
At the end of season 6 through most of 2019, the standard response from the cast was we hope so.
The events are in descending order of occurrence so it is easy to add the latest morsel of information. We noted below changes in language and when something new is said or done.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse