As Dan Harmon continues to develop the Community movie for Peacock, fans of the beloved series have a lot of questions about where things stand with all the characters. Arguably the biggest mystery concerns Donald Glover's Troy Barnes, who was last seen departing for a trip around the world with LeVar Burton, but Yvette Nicole Brown's Shirley Bennett had arguably an even weirder send-off: in the Season 6 premiere, it's revealed that she has moved to the bayou to work as a personal chef for a depressed private detective (played by Steven Weber).
So how has Shirley been affected by that very specific experience going into the Community movie? CinemaBlend's Mick Joest asked Yvette Nicole Brown about it last week amid her revelation as Showbird on the Fox competition series The Masked Singer (which also features Community co-star Ken Jeong as one of its panelists). She spoke carefully, not wanting to give anything away about what's being cooked up for the feature, but she did confirm that the character's status at the start of Season 6 remains canon. Said Brown,
I read one script for the movie, and I don't wanna give anything away, but I don't know per se that where everyone ended is going to be a part of where they start in the film. I think I can say that safely. So she could be coming straight from the bayou or she could have left the bayou, you know, a year or so ago and been back in Greendale. So who knows? Who knows? Stay tuned.
Having Shirley Bennett go off to the bayou with a private detective was included as part of a running Community joke about spinoffs (the show was never one to ignore an opportunity for a meta gag), but now, it's fascinating to think about how that strange Season 6 premiere coda – which, it should be noted, includes a splash of the supernatural – will impact the long-developing movie. Will the devout Christian woman with business ambitions be the same person we got to know during the show's six season run, or will she be changed by the experience?
And if she has been back in Greendale for a while before the start of the story in the movie, that opens up a bunch of other questions. What brought her back to Colorado? And is she back together with Andre?
It certainly must be a creative challenge for Dan Harmon, who is penning the script for the Community feature with Season 1/2 writer Andrew Guest. In addition to Yvette Nicole Brown, the movie is going to include returning stars Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, Allison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong and Jim Rash. The project has taken a long time to come together due to behind-the-scenes logistics, though Harmon has begged fans to stop haranguing Glover, saying that the superstar actor/musician's schedule isn't the reason for delays.
Community fans are very much used to big ups and downs, but all signs point to the prophecy of Six Seasons And A Movie being fulfilled. We don't yet know when the feature will go into production let alone be made available to stream for Peacock subscribers, but hopes are high that cameras will start to roll in 2025. Meanwhile, stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news and details about the exciting project.
