Dan Harmon has some exciting news for Community fans who are still waiting for the movie they've been promised.
Whilst speaking to Newsweek to promote Season 6 of his animated show Rick and Morty, Harmon provided some "concrete" evidence of the Community movie's existence and how far along in the creation process it is.
The cult-hit show Community starred the likes of Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong and Chevy Chase, and thanks to a huge fan movement, it stayed on the air for six seasons. The slogan "six seasons and a movie," which originated in the show, is often used in support of Community, but fans have now been waiting over seven years for that final part of the prophecy.
"I will now say it's a matter of 'when.' I have been so careful about [saying] that," Harmon told Newsweek.
"It would have been accurate three years ago to say 'it's a matter of when, not if.' The wheels have been in motion for that long," he said.
The final episode of Community, which premiered on NBC in 2009 and ended on the now defunct Yahoo! Screen in 2015, ended with the words, "...And a Movie." Ever since then, Harmon and each cast member have been asked about when that movie is coming.
Expanding on why he's tried to be coy in the past, Harmon explained it was because the timeline of release may not be the answer fans want to hear.
"The fan that Instagrams every day about Community, how can you tell them, 'yes, it's definitely going to happen, but it may be between one and eight years from now' -- which is how the industry works, especially when you factor in pandemics and whatnot.
"How about this for a concrete thing?" Harmon teased, "There is an outline for it. There's a product put together and pitched out in the world. I guess that's how real it is."
Acknowledging how anything he says may impact excited Community fans, he continued, "That's probably enough that'll make people mad when [there's nothing] a year from now. It still doesn't mean there's going to be a movie tomorrow. It means there is definitely going to be one."
Alison Brie, who played Annie Eddison throughout the entirety of Community's six seasons, also discussed the Community movie with Newsweek recently. "I'm crossing my fingers as much as anyone else. I hope it happens," Brie said, acknowledging how coy she had to be.
Harmon expanded on how the situation looks to fans, likening it to being in the driver's seat and looking at his hungry children in the back of the car.
"It just feels like psychological torture, from a fan's perspective to keep looking into the backseat of a station wagon and saying 'who wants McDonald's?' And to just keep driving down the freeway," he said. "I don't want to be guilty of causing that sensation. It just takes so long sometimes."
Community fans have been given hope of a movie in recent years. During the pandemic, the majority of the cast returned for an online reunion table read. In September 2021 McHale, who played Jeff Winger, shared his hope that a movie would happen, while in June 2021 Jeong, aka Ben Chang, expressed his desire to return to the role in a conversation with Newsweek.
Harmon and the cast and creators of Rick and Morty were speaking to Newsweek ahead of the launch of Season 6 on Adult Swim on September 4, 2022. We'll have more Rick and Morty content coming soon.
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Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
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