Future ‘Community’ Chances ‘Bleak’ At Yahoo, Says Dan Harmon

We’ve been through this drill before; one comment or another from cast and crew placing the future of Community in jeopardy, at least until another urges not to lose hope. That said, creator Dan Harmon now calls chances “bleak” after the comedy’s main Yahoo supporter left the company for another job.

From The Hollywood Reporter, Harmon views it even less likely Community might return for a movie or a seventh season, following the departure of Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt for STX Entertainment. Calling Savitt “our beloved benefactor,” Harmon sees the series having even less support:

I, of course, as a narcissist and a self-loathing person, when I read that [she was leaving Yahoo], I blamed myself. Like, I only know one thing that she did, and I think she got fired for it — which was hire me.

[Savitt's job] changing is a little bit of a dent in the optimism — I’m trying to find out a way [to say it]. That makes it look a little more bleak just because before she was gone, she was the person that anyone could pick up the phone and say, ‘Let’s make this Community thing happen,’ whatever it was, and she’s the reason it would get done.”

And again, I say half-joking and half-sincerely, maybe that’s why she’s gone because she believed in the show and loved it so much.

Admittedly, Harmon also pointed to the sixth season resurrection as a reminder that anything can happen, though a Yahoo representative declining to comment on THR’s piece doesn’t bode particularly well.The streaming service did, however, recently make available its Season 6 episodes with commentary from Harmon.

In the meantime, when last we heard of future Community, Yahoo Screen was reportedly pushing for digital distribution of a feature film, though series star Joel McHale had some confusing back-and-forth about the possibility, before Dan Harmon even writes a script. There’s also the already-stretched availability of Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs,  Ken Jeong, Jim Rash, Yvette Nicole Brown or even Donald Glover.

Harmon might well come back and urge fans to keep up hope, but is Community really gone for good this time, without its most visible Yahoo support?