In a move that is absolutely Streets Ahead, series creator Dan Harmon claims he is finally working on writing the long prophesied Community movie! Harmon, who is also the mastermind behind the pop culture phenomenon Rick And Morty, has been lambasted by fans demanding the movie to wrap up the story of the show ever since it aired its series finale six years ago. He now appears to finally be working on bringing the project to life.
Early in the run of the Community television series, an in-joke on the series began regarding how the best shows last “Six Seasons and a Movie.” Community was long considered to be “the little show that could”, always on the verge of cancellation but somehow surviving for one more season. By the fourth season of the show the “Six Seasons and a Movie” saying became an anthem for the series fanbase, with people pushing for the struggling cult favorite to keep going just a little while longer. When NBC unceremoniously cancelled the show at the end of its fifth season, it was saved at the last minute by Yahoo! (of all people), who gave the show a sixth and final season as the flagship series on their short-lived Yahoo Screen streaming service. Then things went quiet, leaving Community fans holding onto hope for the last few years that we might finally get the long awaited movie to bring closure to the series story.
In a recent guest spot on Vulture’s Good Ones podcast, Harmon revealed that he was in fact finally working on writing the Community movie, saying:
I started writing to keep my parents from hitting me, and I now only write to feel valid. But the upside of that is I am, at least once a week, thinking about it – the gears are turning. There is, like… a thing is happening. Logistically, the locks are coming away. And the only problems are becoming the creative ones, which is great, because I love those problems. I love having these conversations, and they’re being had.
Since Community ended its sixth and final season, it has only grown in popularity thanks to subscription streaming services like Netflix helping it find its audience. This past year the cast reunited to stream a live script reading for charity during the quarantine, which gave fans even more hope for the eventual Community movie to finally happen. While most of their stars have risen significantly since the show ended, all of the cast have stated at various points that they would be willing to do the movie to bring closure to their characters.
When it comes to the subject of a Community movie actually coming to fruition, series creator Dan Harmon seems hopeful but also acknowledges that it won’t be the easiest journey. Between production costs and the busy schedules of the series cast, the project would have a number of odds working against it. It also begs the question, how do you explain the massive time gap between the eventual movie and the series finale? Harmon himself isn’t quite sure how best to address the matter, saying:
Do you want to see these people play dress-up in their old outfits and come in and go, ‘Look at me. Meep meep, moop moop. Look what I used to do’? Yes, to some degree; no, to some degree. Contrary to that, do you want to see these people not doing that and coming in in pantsuits and going, ‘I’m an adult now… Remember when we did this?’
Perhaps the most difficult aspect though is actually trying to create a new project so long after the end of the series that will please longtime fans but also stand on its own well enough for new viewers. Harmon delved much deeper into this prospect and spoke quite honestly about where his mind goes when it comes to writing the script, saying:
Here’s the biggest philosophical question: Are you supposed to service a mythical new viewer? The obvious, dogmatic, practical, off-the-street answer is like, No, you don’t. It’s fan service. Why would there be a Community movie? Who do you think is going to walk in off the street and buy popcorn and sit and watch a Community movie like that? They deserve to be punished. Why are they doing that?
Saying that that person doesn’t exist is a lot different from asking yourself structurally if you’re supposed to design the movie for them, because there’s a new viewer inside of all of us. If every Marvel movie started with inside references to all 90 other Marvel movies, even if you had seen all of them — even if on one level you’d be like, ‘This is the greatest Marvel movie ever because all of the movies are in here’ — I think that a part of your brain would be going, ‘Yeah, but it’s kind of not a good movie for this reason.’
It’s just speaking in gibberish. What does this mean? I exist in that camp like you? Formalistically, you owe a movie that I think the fans can not only enjoy, but they can stand back and go, “You know, the crazy thing about this Community movie is that if you didn’t know there was a show, this is an insanely good movie”. There’s a reason to watch it and then definitely watch the series because now you’re like, “Holy crap.” I don’t know if that’s arrogance, pretentiousness, responsibility, self-deprecation, torture. I can’t get myself out of that camp.
It sounds like regardless of which route he takes, the prospect of working on this project is a daunting one for Dan Harmon. Hopefully he is able to pull it together in a way that satisfies his own creative needs and the desires of the fans that have followed the Community series journey. At this point I think most fans will be happy to see anything materialize at all. #SixSeasonsAndAMovie
Are you hopeful that the Community movie will actually get made? Or do you think that the prophecy (and the hopes and dreams of fans everywhere) will remain unfulfilled? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more Community updates!
