Just over two years ago, Peacock officially ordered a Community movie based upon the fan-favorite sitcom that ran for six seasons between 2009 and 2015. Since then, there’s been frustratingly little movement on the project. However, former cast member Ken Jeong — who played Ben Chang for the show’s entire run — has seen the script for the film, and he loved it.
“It made me emotional and just brought me right back, and that’s all I’m legally allowed to say,” said Jeong during an interview with TV Insider. “There is a script, there is a plan. We just don’t know when [it will happen]. Once that’s agreed upon, it’ll be magical and real emotional … I think being on set experiencing that again [will be] so gratifying. Words can’t even express.”
Rick and Morty‘s Dan Harmon created Community as a comedy centered on Joel McHale’s Jeff Winger, a disbarred lawyer who attended Greendale Community College alongside his study group classmates as played by Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Chevy Chase. Jim Rash played Dean Craig Pelton, while Jeong’s Chang was a teacher-turned-frenemy for the study group. Of the original cast, only Chase is expected to be skipping the film after he left the series at the conclusion of season 4. Chase’s character, Pierce Hawthorne, was also used to explain the subsequent departure of Glover’s Troy Barnes as he accepted a provision in Pierce’s will to sail around the world. Glover didn’t return to the show after that, but he has signed on for the movie.
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Glover, who is also an accomplished rapper under the Childish Gambino stage name, recently canceled his world tour to recover from an unspecified surgery. At the time, Glover wrote, “My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously,” before adding that he needed “time out to heal.”
Last summer, McHale took the blame for the Community movie’s delay, which he attributed to his busy schedule, including his commitment to Fox’s Animal Control. The Community movie will still likely fulfill the “six seasons and a movie” pledge if for no other reason than it was awarded a lucrative tax credit from the state of California in September. For now, it doesn’t have a premiere window scheduled by Peacock.