‘Community’ Season 4: More On Chevy Chase’s Exit, Plus “Futuristic” Paintball?

Granted a certain other Thursday sitcom meltdown might have stolen a bit of 'Community's thunder of late, with Chevy Chase finally announcing his resignation from the series prior to the beginning of its fourth, and likely final season, there are still plenty of questions to be answered.  With only a few of the 13-episode order for 'Community' season 4 left to shoot, how might the show alter the timeline to reflect Pierce's departure?  And will we get another paintball episode after all?

Through all the inside jokes and meta humor, 'Community' fans all take two things for granted: the curmudgeonly Chevy Chase never cared much for his roles as the curmudgeonly Pierce Hawthorne, and the show's paintball episodes made for the stuff of legends.  With season 4 finally set to debut on February 7, TVLine reports taht 'Community' fans may see some of their favorite devices being revisited after all.

As part of a weekly spoiler segment, TVLine indicated that rumors put Chevy Chase's eventual exit from the series as coinciding with a re-introduction of 'Community's infamous "Darkest Timeline," a recurring thread borne out of season 3 episode "Remedial Chaos Theory."  Fans of the episode will remember that said timeline featured Pierce dying of an accidental gunshot wound, but it isn't yet known how that universe might again cross over to the "prime" outside of Abed (Danny Pudi)'s Dreamatorium imagination.

The report also adds that the Greendale gang might find themselves in need of some "futuristic paintball guns" as well in future episodes, which could suggest a return to 'Community's favored paintball episodes.  First season's original "Modern Warfare" spoofed post-apocalyptic movies and cemented the series as a genre favorite, while memorable second season two-parter "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For A Few Paintballs More" spoofed westerns and 'Star Wars,' respectively.  The show's third season made a meta-reference to eschewing future paintball episodes, but did feature a flashback to a noir paintball incident the show never covered.

What say you?  Are you interested to see how Chevy's exit gets addressed?  Would you want another paintball episode?  Give us your 'Community' season 4 predictions in the comments!