“Six seasons and a movie.” What started out as Abed Nadir’s ill-fated prediction for how long the short-lived NBC series The Cape would last ended up becoming a rallying cry for Community fans’ own hopes. The six seasons part was accomplished thanks to the comedy series moving to the now-defunct Yahoo! Screen for its final season, and in 2022, it was announced after years of speculation that the Community movie was indeed moving forward. A little over two years later, Ken Jeong has shared an update on what’s happening with the Peacock subscription-exclusive feature, teasing that it will be “magical and real emotional.”
In an interview with TV Insider tied to his appearance in the Fox anthology series Accused, Jeong, who played Ben Chang for the entirety of Community’s run, said that the Community movie is still on the way rather than having been shelved, promising it’s “not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.” He continued:
There is a script, there is a plan. We just don’t know when [it will happen]. Once that’s agreed upon, it’ll be magical and real emotional… I think being on set experiencing that again [will be] so gratifying. Words can’t even express.
This is arguably the biggest update the project has gotten since Community creator Dan Harmon stated in June he was doing a “final pass” on the script that he was writing with Andrew Guest. Half a year later, it appears as though said script is complete, because in addition to Ken Jeong confirming that it exists, he also had the following to say about what he felt when he read it:
It made me emotional, and just brought me right back, and that’s all I’m legally allowed to say.
Although no plot details have been revealed yet, it was officially announced right off the bat that Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie and Jim Rash will appear alongside Ken Jeong in the Community movie, and Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover were confirmed to also be returning shortly thereafter. McHale made it clear last year that Chevy Chase will not be back to reprise the late Pierce Hawthorne, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the Saturday Night Live alum hasn’t been shy about saying how much he disliked working on Community.
Outside of just how great it’ll be seeing these characters reunite within the walls of Greendale Community College, I’m looking forward to seeing what specifically made Ken Jeong so emotional when he read the script, and I’m even more eager to learn what the Community movie will actually begin filming so we can get a better idea of when it will be released on Peacock. Speaking of which, all of Community, one of those sitcoms perfect for your next long-binge, can be found on that same streaming platform.