Yahoo Still Pushing for ‘Community’ Movie, and Other Confusing Back-and-Forth

Few had earnestly thought Yahoo might order a seventh season of Community, what with cast contracts expiring and limited reception, to the point series lead Joel McHale even outright denied the possibility. Now, not only has McHale walked back his comments, but Yahoo is actively pushing for a movie, among other mixed outlooks.

The proliferation of headlines claiming Community as “canceled” saw Joel McHale actively tweeting back his earlier statements, which claimed “There is just not enough money to be able to pay for the show,” amid expired contracts for the increasingly in-demand core cast. Tweeted McHale later:

Okay! It gets better over at Deadline, who followed up on Yahoo’s insistence on exploring future Community options with news that the streaming service would almost certainly seek a digitally-distributed feature film, something rival outlets like Netflix and even Crackle have begun to experiment with:

One thing Yahoo’s statement does not specify is what those “future opportunities” may be. I hear it would be a movie, and if there is a next Community chapter, that would be it.

I hear an idea for a theatrical release was briefly discussed but the conversation quickly focused on doing the film for a digital distribution. As a partner on Season 6, Yahoo would get first dibs. Yahoo has not yet released an original movie, something SVOD services like Netflix and Amazon have been doing increasingly, including with popular comedy brands like Adam Sandler (Netflix) and David Spade’s Joe Dirt.

Sounds great! Most of the cast have previously testified their enthusiasm to participate, once Dan Harmon bangs out a script. One potential issue with that, however: Harmon’s current Rick and Morty-adjacent workload just got even heavier, now that IFC has ordered a pilot for comedic panel show Great Minds, which Harmon would executive produce, and even host.

So, where does that leave us? Well, the already-stretched availability of Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs,  Ken Jeong, Yvette Nicole Brown or even Donald Glover isn’t likely to give way to a feature film opening anytime soon, meaning Yahoo has plenty of time to keep “investigating” those opportunities. And while McHale word may hesitate on the word “canceled,” no one seems to believe Community will produce any new Greendale adventures in an episodic format.

In other words, an eventual movie seems plausible, if not mandated (an inside source on the Deadline piece claimed “We are not going to let all those ‘Six Seasons and a Movie T-Shirts go to waste”), but no one may be willing to speak as flatly as McHale in his most recent interview.

Stay strong, Community fans.