Gillian Anderson May Actually Join 'Community' Movie After Joel McHale Post

Dean-dong: Who's that knocking at the doors of Greendale Community College? Why it's Gillian Anderson, and she's ready to enroll.

In the October 12 episode of You Can't Disappoint a Podcast, writer and executive producer Andrew Guest confirmed to podcast hosts Zachary Pruett and Stephen Baker that the Crown star has expressed interest in joining the recently announced (and long-awaited) Community movie.

Like most things Greendale-associated, it all started with a mistake. Joel McHale, who starred as Jeff Winger on all six seasons of the cult-hit TV show, which premiered in 2009 and focused on a lovable band of misfits who came together to form a Spanish study group, announced on Twitter September 30 that the show's prophecy—#sixseasonsandamovie—would finally be fulfilled. He tagged castmates from the show, including Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, Danny Pudi, Jim Rash and Gillian Jacobs. At least, he thought he tagged Gillian Jacobs.

Instead, he accidentally tagged Anderson—he is only a Human Being, after all—and surprise, surprise: Anderson was down.

Turns out, she wasn't kidding. "Suddenly there's this center of gravity," Guest told Pruett and Baker about the response to the film announcement. "We might not have had in writing every one of our cast members, but people are reaching out. Directors are reaching out. The Gillian Anderson thing? She wants to be in the movie!"

When Peacock officially announced the film on September 30, original cast members Glover and Brown were notably absent. Glover left the show in season 4, and Brown departed in season 5, then returned for the series finale in 2015. Guest and fans are holding out hope that the whole gang will ultimately get back together for the feature—probably minus original cast member Chevy Chase, who famously feuded with Harmon and whose highly abrasive character, Pierce Hawthorne, died on the show.

"It's just been amazing to see the response," Guest told the podcast hosts about the overall response to the movie. "Joel McHale, the cast, [creator] Dan Harmon, myself, we were all feeling the love. This wouldn't be happening without people like yourselves."

The long-rumored movie started to feel more like reality over the past few months, with both Brie and Harmon confirming separately to Newsweek that things were looking up. Then suddenly, there it was: confirmation.

But according to Guest, the road to the feature was a long one. "In December 2019," he told the podcast, "Dan had a meeting with Sony and Sony was like, 'We think it's time.' Then...2020, pre-pandemic, I had lunch with Dan and he said, 'Do you want to do this with me?' And I said of course, and then cut to now. It's been slow."

"There is something to this group that is genuine, a genuine love for each other and for the show that they all created together," he added. "During the pandemic, when that table read happened, they didn't know whether Donald would be able to make it—he's maybe the busiest man in Hollywood—but lo and behold, there he was."

The cast, minus Chase, did a table read of the season 5 episode "Cooperative Polygraphy" in May 2020 to benefit World Central Kitchen and Frontline Foods.

Said Guest of that experience, "This cast is still firing at all cylinders. That chemistry is legit."

Now all there is to do is wait and see what the minds of Guest and Harmon come with, and whether Agent Scully will indeed be joining the Spanish study group. In true Community fashion, Guest said, "We're bound to fail."

This writer politely disagrees and thinks the movie is sure to be an unstoppable jugglenaut.

The latest episode of You Can't Disappoint a Podcast is up now.