Community finally fulfilled the prophecy and got six seasons and a movie. The official announcement for said movie confirmed that Joel McHale (Jeff), Danny Pudi (Abed), Alison Brie (Annie), Gillian Jacobs (Britta), Jim Rash (Craig), and Ken Jeong (Ben) will reprise their roles. That leaves several major study group members out, but it’s worth noting that show creator Dan Harmon has claimed that all of the cast members, not Chevy Chase, had agreed to return, despite Harmon’s scheduling worries post-WGA strike. Who’s missing, and how likely are they to join the final cast? Here’s a breakdown of the probabilities:
Donald Glover (Troy): Is this the end of Troy and Abed in the morning? Harmon has confirmed that there’s no need to worry about that, as the film was scheduled to be in production in Atlanta to accommodate Glover’s schedule. But he had been in talks with Harmon for quite a while. “[Glover] is down to clown,” Harmon said at a Variety event on November 3. “Man, I would not want to think about making [the movie] without Donald.” The show creator told Variety last month that he believes “Donald is coming, based on word of mouth.” He explained at the time that the deal just might not be official enough to confirm that Glover is part of the cast. “It would be difficult to really commit to doing this thing without Donald,” Harmon said, noting that he was looking forward to sharing more news about the movie, including when he can say that Glover “is officially in it for real.’” And let’s not forget that Glover himself said during a 2020 reunion table read that he would be down for a Community movie. Glover told GQ that he’s as far in as in can be before cameras start rolling. “We’re supposed to be shooting it soon,” he said. “Haven’t seen the script, don’t know … and in true Dan [Harmon] fashion, we’ll probably get it on the first day. But yeah, it’s supposed to be happening.”
Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley): According to Harmon, Brown is confirmed to return as Shirley. Oh, that’s nice! She also participated in the 2020 table read, and had consistently expressed that she would be happy to be in a Community movie. A couple days before the movie announcement was made — with her missing from the cast — she told E! News that she was aware that a script was being drafted. “Every day it’s getting closer to coming to fruition,” she said. “Do I know when? I do not. Do I know whether everybody’s schedule is going to line up at the right time to make it happen in a time that’ll make everybody happy? I don’t know that, either. But I do know that everybody has a desire to take part, and that’s half the battle.”
McHale tagged both Brown and Glover on Twitter in his post announcing the news, and Brown responded, “It’s happening! Congrats, #Community fans!” (To be fair, we cannot take McHale’s tweet as casting confirmation — he accidentally tagged Gillian Anderson instead of Gillian Jacobs.)
John Oliver (Ian): The Last Week Tonight host is ostensibly pretty busy with his talk show these days. While Oliver hasn’t officially commented on the Community movie, a Reddit user claimed earlier this year that they attended a taping of the show and asked him about it. “John also said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it because he’s busy with Last Week Tonight, but he said his part is so insignificant in Community that it isn’t that important if he’s in it,” the post reads. “He said he would like to do the movie if he could pop in when he had a break from Last Week Tonight.”
Jonathan Banks (Buzz), Paget Brewster (Frankie), and Keith David (Elroy): These three Community cast members have been quiet on social media as far as the upcoming movie goes. Now that Better Call Saul is over, there might be a higher probability that Banks is free. But beyond that, we’re just not too sure about our chances.
Chevy Chase (Pierce): Chase hasn’t been part of the Community community for a while, with his character getting killed off during the show’s fifth season. The actor allegedly made racial cracks on set, and reportedly once told Glover, “People think you’re funnier because you’re Black.” Harmon recently addressed the possibility of Chase’s casting at a Comic Con panel, and the odds look grim: “I don’t even know if it’s legal for him to come back,” Harmon said, per Variety. “That may be out of my hands. There may be something I sign for with an insurance company.”
Luis Guzmán (Luis Guzmán): Guzmán played himself in the season three episode “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux,” where he is an alum of Greendale who returns to be a part of Dean Pelton’s commercial. The IMDB actor told Vulture that he’d “love” to be a part of the film but has not officially confirmed his attendance.
