Donald Glover Confirms That Dan Harmon Finally Finished the ‘Community’ Movie Script
As Abed Hitchcock once said, “To make six seasons and a movie, you need three things — the script, the script and the script.”
It’s been sixteen months since Community star Joel McHale first leaked that the long-dormant, cult-beloved comedy franchise would finally fulfill its promise of a feature length film to follow up its six tumultuous seasons on TV and streaming. In that time, the Peacock project dealt with a questionable cast list that’s still missing some important names (most notably Yvette Nicole Brown) and a writers’ strike that derailed series creator Dan Harmon’s creative process. Now, according to the show’s biggest star and thankfully confirmed returning talent, Harmon’s finally finished the script. Well, at least a single draft of it that no one’s actually seen yet.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the New York premiere of his new series Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Wednesday, Donald Glover, who played Troy Barnes on Community for four and a half seasons before leaving to pursue personal projects, said that he received word earlier that same day that the Community movie script was finally finished. Now he just has to read it.
"I was told that the script -- literally, I was texting today -- I was told that the script was done," Glover said when asked about the long-awaited Community movie that was originally scheduled to start filming this past summer. “I haven't read it yet," Glover admitted, indicating that Harmon still hasn’t disseminated the script among his tenuously assembled cast.
As of publication, the makers of the Community movie still have yet to officially confirm that Brown, who played Shirley Bennett in 99 out of the total 110 episodes of the show, will return when the Peacock project begins production. Back when Glover was also among the unconfirmed stars from the original series whom fans desperately hoped would resume their roles, Harmon promised fans that, though the details of the contracts hadn’t been ironed out, everyone from the study group (besides the racist dead one) would be in the movie — provided he could get the production schedule sorted out.
“It's really just a schedule thing,” Glover admitted of the delays to his official return announcement, “(but) I'm in. I'm all in.”
As for Brown’s continued conspicuous absence, Ken Jeong, who played the always chaotic teacher-turned-student Ben Chang in the original Community, teased during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Brown was a go for the film in every way but the officially announced one.
With just a couple more question marks still sitting between Community fans and their promised land, Shirley’s return and Harmon’s mysterious script should be treated just like Troy’s cartoon world fantasy — you just have to believe.
