Pop, Pop the Champagne: This isn’t a gloomy timeline as “Six Seasons and a Movie” is finally becoming a reality. He commissioned a film based on the peacock Don Harmon Comedy “,” brings back the original stars Joel McHaleDanny Budi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong Check out what the Greendale gang has been up to since the show ended in 2015.
Without sharing details, Peacock and Sony Pictures TV, which jointly announced the greenlight on Friday, described negotiations to secure the Peacock film as “fiercely competitive.” As part of the deal, Peacock also acquired non-exclusive rights to the entire six-season “Community” library, which can also be found on Netflix and Hulu.
“Community” creator Harmon is behind the film as an executive producer and writer along with Andrew Guest. McHale also serves as EP, as do Russ Krasnoff and Gary Foster. The show’s studios are Sony Pictures TV and Universal Studios Group’s Universal Television shingle. (“Community” ran on NBC for five of its six seasons, and Universal TV served as one of the show’s producers, along with studio lead Sony.)
“‘Six Seasons and a Movie’ started as a cheeky line from the early seasons of Community and quickly ignited a passionate fan movement for this iconic, hilarious and cool (cool, cool) NBC comedy,” said Susan Rovner, President of Entertainment Content. , NBC Universal television and streaming. “After 15 years, we are incredibly grateful to be able to deliver this promised film to fans and can’t wait to work with Don Harmon, Andrew Guest, Joel McHale, Sony and our partners at UTV to continue this epic comedy. For peacock visitors.
Further details — including the director and estimated premiere date — have yet to be shared. It’s also unanswered whether other key “Social” actors, including Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover, will still appear — or at least make a cameo. (It’s safe to say that Chevy Chase, who had a disagreement and eventually died on the show, won’t be coming back.)
“Community” enjoyed a roller coaster ride during its original 2009-2015 run. The show launched on NBC in the fall of 2009, where it seemed to live in a perpetual bubble. Originating as a comedy about strangers who join a community-college study group, the show quickly became an experiment in deconstructing the sitcom form, gaining critical acclaim and a loyal fan base for its meta jokes, TV tropes, and unique characters.
Laundered attorney Jeff Winger (as played by McHale), along with Abed Nadir (Buddy), Britta Perry (Jacobs), Annie Edison (Bry), Shirley Bennett (Brown), and Troy Barnes (Bry), was the natural leader of the group. Glover), Pierce Hawthorne (Chase), and student-turned-teacher Ben Chang (Jeong) and Greendale Dean Craig Belton (Rash). Other actors who played significant roles in the show include John Oliver, Jonathan Banks, Paget Brewster and Keith David.
After Season 3, NBC and Sony, concerned that “Community” wasn’t attracting enough mainstream viewers, fired Harmon and brought in new executive producers. But after alienating fans after Season 4 (the so-called “gas leak season”), Harmon — thanks to heavy lobbying from McHale and the rest of the cast — was reinstated.
However, after years of canceled dances, NBC finally pulled the plug on “Community” at the end of its fifth season. But that’s not the end of the line. Sony offered season 6 to its then-sister ad-supported streamer Crackle and Hulu, which held the show’s streaming rights. But none of those outlets were financially viable. Then Yahoo! Screen promised 13 episodes at the show’s previous $2 million per episode price.
It was good for “the community” — but Yahoo! It wasn’t much for Sale, realizing that its investment outweighed the return from the show. By the end of Season 6 (and a total of 110 episodes), “Community” had wrapped up for good — Yahoo! Screen.
But that deal ultimately made the first half of the show’s “six seasons and a movie” prophecy come true. The line was first uttered by Abed (Buddy). The SEason Chapter 2 “Paradigms of Human Memory.”
“‘Community’ was light years ahead of its time when it premiered on NBC in 2009, and we’re thrilled to revisit the brilliant minds of Don Harmon, Andrew Guest and this impeccable cast,” said Sony co-chairman Jason Clotfelder. Pictures Television Studios. “We are grateful to our partners at UTV, Peacock, and all the passionate fans who enjoyed this iconic show.”
Universal TV president Erin Underhill added: “This franchise is the definition of community. We’re excited to bring the band back together and continue the journey of these beloved characters.”
“Community” won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation during its run and developed a huge fan base that even included its own unofficial fan-led convention. Of course, since the show ended its run, the “Community” cast has all moved on to other critically acclaimed projects.
Talk of a movie swirled for years — even before “Society” closed. In 2014, the show’s sixth season even aired on Yahoo! Screen, then-Sony Pictures head of television programming Zach Van Amburg said, could be a ‘Community’ movie directed by Justin Lin or Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (who all helmed episodes of the series). “I personally had those conversations,” he said at the time.
In 2020, the cast (with everyone except Chase, including Glover) Gathered for a table reading and Q&A Backing Frontline Foods and Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen, the film was tentative around the question, but once a script was written it was all game. (Even Glover seemed up to it.)
“When I look at the episodes now, these waves come over me, and at first, my writers were surprised, maybe I wasn’t as rewarded as I thought,” Harmon said. Time. “But secondly … the whole cast is like a machine on a basketball court that automatically smashes everything you put on the court. We’ve all had enough success individually that we all know it doesn’t get any better.
But speculation about the movie actually taking place was just that – speculation. Until last month. That’s when Harmon told Newsweek he had an outline for the film. “There’s an outline to it,” Harmon told Newsweek. “There’s a product put together in the world. I think that’s how real it is.
Harmon was hesitant to continue hyping up fans, however, saying, “It’s enough that it drives people crazy. [there’s nothing] A year from now. Still doesn’t mean there’s going to be a film tomorrow. It definitely means there’s going to be one.
Now it’s official, folks.
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