Community Season 5 Trailer Takes Us Beyond The Darkest Timeline

It’s a repilot! That’s actually the title of Community’s Season 5 premiere (“Repilot”) and as Abed puts it in the newest trailer for the beloved NBC comedy, repiloting can be intense. This is followed by a great meta response from Troy commenting on the audacity of Zach Braff to bail on Scrubs after everything the series did for him. That’s very likely a nod to Donald Glover’s plans to exit the series partway through this season to focus more attention on his music… (After everything Community did for him?!).

The new trailer also teases Jeff’s return, which was the focus of the last promo we shared. And the existence of the “Ass Crack Bandit,” who apparently makes Troy a victim, possibly by dropping a quarter down the back of his pants? This, based on what Troy said about the quarter touching his butt’s mouth. Poor Troy.

What else did the trailer tells us? Chang’s done bad things in the study room… and everywhere.

And look who’s back and worshipping Britta…

Are my eyes mistaken or is that Starburns returned from the dead? Well, considering this season comes from “the executive producer of Community Seasons 1-3,” I suppose anything is possible.

We’re also teased fire, battles, a Terminator-like Abed, the sight of Dean crying in his underwear, and Walton Goggins telling everyone they have to submit to a polygraph test. Goggins is just one of numerous guest stars set to appear in Season 5, along with Rob Corddry, who plays Jeff’s former law partner Alan Connor.

The “repilot” theme may be in part to acknowledge the return of Dan Harmon, series creator who was dropped from the show after Season 3 and thankfully brought back for the upcoming season. It also looks like the start of the season will bring the study group back together. That’s one of the things the cast talks about in this featurette:

Yvette Nicole Brown points out that the “repilot” aspect of this episode means that the Season 5 premiere won’t just bring the show back, it’ll also offer an opportunity for newcomers to climb on board the Community bandwagon. As nice as it would be to say that the series doesn’t need better ratings, the truth is, it really does, and more than that, it deserves them. Unfortunately, the series still has to compete with mega-popular CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which also happens to return January 2.