Years before he created and led the FX series Atlanta, and was cast as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Donald Glover was arguably best known for play Troy Barnes in Community. Glover was one of the main cast members during the show’s first four seasons on NBC, but then departed after appearing in Season 5’s first five episodes. Now following the recent announcement that a Community movie is in the works for Peacock subscribers, Community creator Dan Harmon has discussed the possibility of whether Glover will take part in this cinematic reunion.
For years, Community fans championed the “six seasons and a movie” mantra coined by Abed Nadir when he started watching The Cape (spoiler alert, that show only lasted one season). The cult comedy hit the six seasons mark thanks to a final outing on the now-defunct Yahoo! Screen, and now the movie is finally happening close to a decade after Community concluded. While Donald Glover was not listed among the actors who will return, Dan Harmon told Variety that The Martian star, among other Community alums, could still show up. In his words:
I think that Donald is coming, based on word of mouth, but it’s just the deal isn’t official or wasn’t official. It would be difficult to really commit to doing this thing without Donald. So I believe he is coming back. I think if there’s names missing from a list, it’s because the names that are on the list, their deals are agreed upon enough that it’s OK to say they are on the list, and anybody that’s not on a list, it’s just not the case yet. So there is nothing official about anybody being out.
Dan Harmon’s correct in saying that it’s hard to imagine a Community movie happening without Donald Glover, and the same goes for Yvette Nicole Brown, who starred as Shirley Bennett for the entirety of Community’s first five seasons, and then made a guest appearance in Season 6. As far as Glover specifically goes, Harmon is confident that he’ll appear in the movie, but the only reason he wasn’t listed in the casting lineup is because his deal to reprise Troy Barnes hasn’t been 100% set in stone. If that’s the case, then all we have to do now is wait for him to be officially announced in the near future so this matter can be put to rest.
When we last saw Troy in the episode “Geothermal Escapism,” he was about to sail around the world with LeVar Burton so that he could receive the shares of Hawthorne Wipes left to him by the late Pierce Hawthorne, played by Chevy Chase. Then in the episode “Analysis of Cork-Based Networking,” a news report revealed that Burton and a “non-celebrity” had been abducted by pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. Rescuing Troy would certainly make a compelling reason for the Greendale gang to get back together, but if he was able to escape captivity on its own, then it still would be nice for him to make his way to the reunion. The same goes for Shirley.
So far Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong and Jim Rash are all confirmed to be appearing in the Community movie, and Dan Harmon is writing the script with Andrew Guest. Other potential characters who could pop their head into the movie include Paget Brewster’s Frankie Dart and Keith David’s Elroy Patashnik, both of whom were part of the study group in Season 6. Without any plot details to work with yet, it’s hard to predict what we can expect from the Community movie, although there are certain elements that will hopefully be prioritized. Make sure to read our breakdown of how Community ended to learn where we left off with the main characters in 2015.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more news about the Community movie, and don’t forget to visit our 2022 TV schedule to see what’s currently on the airwaves (including Donald Glover starring in the final season of Atlanta) and what programming is left to premiere this year.
