Joel McHale has said it’s his fault the Community movie is taking so long to get made.
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In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, the actor – who just featured in the third season of FX’s hit kitchen drama The Bear – blamed his busy schedule for the delay.
“It hasn’t been shot yet. It will be. And I don’t have a definitive update because we thought for a moment it was going to all happen this year, and then it didn’t,” he said.
“But we have the money, and that is a huge step. And hopefully, people still want to see it. And Peacock’s paying for it. And so I can’t wait to do it. I’ll say vaguely next year. How about that?”
When the interviewer joked that the delay was due to Donald Glover‘s lack of availability, McHale replied: “No! If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s my schedule on this one. It’s not his at all. He was available. No, no, no, no.”
He added: “I will say, and please print this. That was definitely not true. It was not Donald’s schedule. We love Donald. You can fully blame my schedule.”
Back in February, Glover confirmed that he was “all in” for the project after being told that the script was complete.
The Community movie was first announced back in September 2022, nearly a full decade after the start of a fan campaign to end the comedy’s run with a film. Original cast members McHale, Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong are set to be reunited with series creator Dan Harmon. McHale and Andrew Guest will also executive produce the film.
“‘Six seasons and a movie’ started out as a cheeky line from Community’s early seasons and quickly ignited a passionate fan movement for this iconic, hilarious and cool (cool, cool) NBC comedy,” said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, in a statement.
“We’re incredibly grateful that 15 years later, we are able to deliver fans this promised movie and can’t wait to get to work with Dan Harmon, Andrew Guest, Joel McHale, Sony and our partners at UTV to continue this epic comedy for Peacock audiences.”
It was Glover who initially pitched the idea of a Community movie during the cast’s virtual reunion table read in 2020 – his first appearance with the cast since departing the show in season 5.
One original cast member who won’t feature in the upcoming film is Chevy Chase, who departed the series in its fourth season due to conflicts with show creator Harmon. His character was killed off in the fifth season.