The logo for NBC/Yahoo TV series "Community."
Pop CultureBy Andrew Bucholtz on

One of the long-running things around beloved sitcom Community is “Six seasons and a movie!” That started as an on-camera recurring bit about character Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi)’s love of NBC show The Cape. The Cape, a midseason replacement for NBC in 2011, only actually aired 10 episodes. But at one point in Community‘s second season, Nadir shows up dressed in the titular cape, and knocks Jeff Winger (Joel McHale)’s food to the ground with it. As Nadir runs away, Winger yells “That show’s going to last three weeks!”, and Nadir shouts back “Six seasons and a movie!”

This became a bit around Community itself, which was seemingly always on the edge of cancellation after each season of its NBC run. It eventually ran for five seasons there, from the 2009-10 television season through the 2013-14 season. But even that hit controversy, with creator and showrunner Dan Harmon booted out after the third season, Moses Port and David Guarascio replacing him for the fourth season, and Harmon returning for the fifth season.

The show was canceled by NBC after that fifth season. But Yahoo! Screen (RIP) picked it up for a 13-episode sixth season, with large numbers of fans’ #sixseasonsandamovie tweets helping with that. And since that sixth season ended in 2015, there’s been eternal talk of a movie to fulfill the show’s own prophecy. Now, as Variety‘s Michael Schneider reported Friday, that movie is actually happening, with Harmon attached as executive producer and writer (alongside Andrew Guest), and with original stars McHale, Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong appearing.

There’s been no word yet on if fellow original stars Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover will join them, in either featured roles or cameos. And there’s also no word if later-seasons figures like Jonathan Banks and (One original figure it seems reasonable to bet will not be involved is Chevy Chase, who left the show by “mutual agreement” during the production of the fourth season in 2012, reportedly after saying the n-word on set during a tirade.) But even if Brown and Glover don’t return, this is a significant carryover from the original series.

Here’s more from Schneider’s piece:

Without sharing specifics, Peacock and Sony Pictures TV, which jointly announced the greenlight on Friday, described the negotiations for Peacock to secure the movie as “heavily competitive.” As part of the deal, Peacock has also acquired non-exclusive rights to the full six-season “Community” library, which can also be found on Netflix and Hulu.

“Community” creator Harmon is behind the movie as executive producer and writer, along with Andrew Guest. McHale also serves as EP, as do Russ Krasnoff and Gary Foster. Sony Pictures TV and Universal Studio Group’s Universal Television shingle are the studios on the show. (“Community” ran on NBC for five of the show’s six seasons, and Universal TV served as one of the show’s production companies, with studio lead Sony .)

“‘Six seasons and a movie’ started out as a cheeky line from ‘Community’s early seasons and quickly ignited a passionate fan movement for this iconic, hilarious and cool (cool, cool) NBC comedy,” said Susan Rovner, chairman, entertainment content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We’re incredibly grateful that 15 years later, we are able to deliver fans this promised movie and can’t wait to get to work with Dan Harmon, Andrew Guest, Joel McHale, Sony and our partners at UTV to continue this epic comedy for Peacock audiences.”

There have been plenty of notable social media reactions to this news. Here are a few, including ones from Brown, McHale, and Pudi:

 

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A post shared by Danny Pudi (@danielpudi)

Even famed actress Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The Fall, The First Lady) chimed in, and got a funny response from McHale:

Many fans also had plenty to say:

There are still many movie details as yet unannounced, including director and release date. But for Community fans, it’s certainly notable that this is finally happening.

[Variety; Community title sequence image from Watch The Titles]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz