The joke-turned-possible-prophecy that “Community” would last for “six seasons and a movie” appears to be getting closer to becoming a reality. That is if Joel McHale is to be believed.
In a recent interview with Variety, McHale was asked about the possibility of the “Community” cast getting the gang back together for a film to finish off the story of misfit students at a community college. The call for a film to end the series, as opposed to another season, is in reference to a line from the series about “six seasons and a movie” that turned into a bit of a rallying cry amongst fans that desperately wanted to keep “Community” on the air.
“There’s way more rumblings than there used to be,” McHale said. “Alison [Brie] tweeted that she got a phone call from Sony. They still haven’t called me, maybe Matthew Lillard will take over. But I would say there’s a better chance than there’s ever been…For a long time I was like, ‘never gonna happen.’ And now I think with the renewed interest, and I know the cast is interested, that it could happen.”
While four seasons of the series seemed easy enough, there was drama behind-the-scenes that almost prevented the show from reaching its six seasons. For Season 5, showrunner Dan Harmon came back aboard to breathe new life in the series, as the show parted ways with co-star Chevy Chase. Then the series was canceled. Eventually, it was revived by Yahoo for a new season (remember when Yahoo was trying to make a streaming service?). That revival only lasted one year, resulting in the current status of “Community” having six full seasons, only needing the movie to fulfill the prophecy.
“Community” recently went back to Netflix after a long run on Hulu. That has sparked even more interest in the continuation of the series. And as we’ve seen in the past, Netflix and other networks are not shy about throwing money at a popular TV series for a new season or film. We saw this with “Gilmore Girls” a while back, as well as the upcoming “Friends” reunion special that is eventually going to air on HBO Max. Then, of course, we have the folks at NBC desperate to get an ‘Office’ revival going.
As for “Community,” if the interest keeps growing, it appears that the long-teased film could actually happen.
