Draft:Community: The Movie

Community: The Movie is an upcoming American made-for-television comedy film based on the NBC comedy series Community. The film is written by series creator Dan Harmon and Andrew Guest, and stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong reprising their roles for the film. The film is set to debut on Peacock.

Cast and characters

 * Joel McHale as Jeff Winger
 * Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry
 * Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir
 * Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett
 * Alison Brie as Annie Edison
 * Donald Glover as Troy Barnes
 * Jim Rash as Craig Pelton
 * Ken Jeong as Ben Chang

Development
The origin for a Community movie can be traced to the season two episode "Paradigms of Human Memory", in which Abed (Danny Pudi) yells that the short-lived series The Cape would run for "six seasons and a movie". Community fans eventually adopted the catchphrase for themselves as the show faced cancellation multiple times during its original six-season run, leading to calls for a movie at the show's conclusion.

In a June 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zack Van Amburg of Sony Pictures Television confirmed that a Community film was in the early stages of development. Asked if Sony had plans beyond the sixth season, Amburg said:"There's no way we're not making the movie now! I think once we make the movie, let's look up and decide how much more Community the world wants. I'd be lying if I told you that we have not had some very early and preliminary conversations that are very exciting about what a potential movie could be and who might direct it."One year later, after the sixth season wrapped, Dan Harmon commented that he was not ready to produce a movie at the end of the season:"I told Yahoo, 'I can't think about writing a movie until I miss Community,' ... They wanted to turn around and do a movie immediately, and Yahoo can get it done. They're like the NSA."In July 2016, during an interview with Larry King Now, Harmon assured that a Community movie "will happen", while expressing uncertainty on how to begin its production. In July 2017, in an interview with Time, Harmon stated regarding a Community movie, "I recently had a conversation with a director that's the kind of guy whose weight in the industry could make that happen. For the first time in a long time, I'm actually putting thought into that again." In November 2017, Harmon told TheWrap that both he and Justin Lin were working to make the movie happen.

In January 2018, Pudi stated that the cast were still excited about the prospect of a film, saying, "We have a little text chain, so we're always like, 'We're ready! We're ready!'" On March 23, 2018, Joel McHale mentioned that he was still hopeful about the movie, while noting that he felt bringing back former castmate Donald Glover would be vital to make the film a success, though he was unsure if this would be feasible. McHale elaborated: "It would be great to do, I'd do it in a New York minute."

When asked in an interview in June 2019 about doing a Community movie, Alison Brie said, "Yeah, I think I would." She later added, "I mean, look, it's like, are we going to do the movie? I feel like if the Community movie ever gets made, it should just be made for Netflix, and it would be fun to do, but, I think it would be best if we could get everyone to do it, so I feel like that might be difficult." In a February 2020 Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread, Brie stated that she "actually got an interesting call about it this week" when questioned about a Community movie and said to "stay tuned".

As the show debuted on Netflix in April 2020, public exposure and interest picked up significantly. That same month during an interview with Collider, Joe Russo was asked if he and his brother Anthony would come back to do the movie. He stated, "We'd certainly be willing to do it. We love our Community family. That cast, we're all still very close to all of them. It'd be schedule-depending for us. But I believe there will be a Community movie, especially now that it's doing well on streaming. Someone like Netflix could step up and make the movie."

In May 2020, the original cast (excluding Chevy Chase) and Harmon announced that they would reunite via a livestream video for a benefit to raise money for the COVID-19 pandemic with a table read of "Cooperative Polygraphy". On May 13, a few days before the table read, Gillian Jacobs talked about her belief that the entire cast would want to return for a movie. In a Q&A session immediately following the May 18 livestream video table read, the cast, including Glover, expressed interest in a movie.

Harmon confirmed in 2021 he had begun work on the script, and that any logistical issues with creating a Community movie were mostly solved. He described the challenging part of the movie was more "philosophical", namely whether the movie would be approachable to a viewer unfamiliar with the television show. Harmon commented in August 2022 that a movie was "definitely going to happen" and could be expected in "between one and eight years". He said that the movie had an outline and that: "There's a product put together and pitched out in the world".

In September 2022, it was announced that the film would be happening and it would be released on Peacock in 2023. Harmon and Andrew Guest will write the film while McHale, Pudi, Brie, Jacobs, Rash and Jeong are all set to return, while Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Chase's involvement remains unknown, though the following month Harmon stated that he believes that Glover will appear in the film, adding that he could not imagine making the film without him. In an April interview with GQ, Glover confirmed he was returning for the film. Harmon confirmed that Yvette Nicole Brown is also set to return. In an interview, Glover said the script was completed.

Filming
In January 2023, McHale revealed that the movie was aiming to begin filming in June that same year. However, in June 2023, McHale revealed that filming had been delayed due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, with filming now set to begin in mid-2024. In March 2024, McHale confirmed that filming would start in 2024, saying that the start date would depend on "working around" Glover's schedule.