‘Community’ Movie Script Is ‘Almost Done,’ Says Creator Dan Harmon (EXCLUSIVE)
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“Community” creator Dan Harmon is inching closer to the finish line for the “movie” portion of his “Six Seasons and a Movie” prophecy.
Following up on former “Community” star Donald Glover’s recent assertion that a script is already in the can, Harmon told Variety that it was almost right. According to Harmon, he’s “almost done” working on the script for the highly-anticipated film, which is set to run on NBCU’s Peacock streaming service.
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“I can confirm Donald Glover’s report that I told him the script was done, but I will also say Donald’s sources are so unreliable because the script is always ‘almost done,'” Harmon quipped. “What can I tell you about it — it’s set on the campus of Greendale Community College. I’m super excited about it, and we’re almost done.”
Donald Glover told Entertainment Tonight last month that he was told “the script — literally, I was texting today — I was told that the script was done.” It turns out he was texting with Harmon — and was almost right.
When reflecting on his writing process thus far, Harmon said that though he’s been “very excited” about it, it’s caused him to have what he described as “good,” “nervous breakdowns” that have made him “cry” when thinking about the show and its characters.
“I’ve been having kind of a nervous breakdown the last couple of months just by working on it, and that’s a good thing because I’m having all kinds of flashbacks to 2009. It’s gonna be awesome,” Harmon said. “I’m like, ‘Why am I crying about these characters?'”
Harmon is co-writing the script with “Community” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” writer Andrew Guest; the film will star original cast members Glover (as Troy Barnes), Alison Brie (as Annie Edison), Gillian Jacobs (as Britta Perry), Joel McHale (as Jeff Winger), Ken Jeong (as Ben Chang), Danny Pudi (as Abed Nadir) and Jim Rash (as Dean Pelton).
The film’s production will now fulfill the show’s promise of “Six Seasons and a Movie,” a cheeky line from the series’ early seasons that has since ignited a passionate fan movement for the film.
Peacock and Sony Pictures TV, which jointly announced the greenlight back in September, described the negotiations for Peacock to secure the movie as “heavily competitive.” As part of the deal, Peacock has also acquired non-exclusive rights to the full six-season “Community” library, which can also be found on Netflix and Hulu.
McHale also serves as executive producer on the Peacock-exclusive film — as do Harmon, Guest, Russ Krasnoff and Gary Foster. The sitcom follows a diverse group of students at a community college as they navigate absurd situations and form unlikely friendships.
“Community” ran on NBC for five of the show’s six seasons, with the final season airing on Yahoo! Screen, a short-lived streaming service.
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