After being fired from his own show by the studio last May, Dan Harmon is coming back to Community. Reports have been circulating for weeks now that the ousted showrunner has been negotiating a deal to return, but Harmon confirmed these rumors himself via Twitter this weekend. After joking about his plans to return, Harmon was asked by a fan if he was really returning, and he replied, “Yes yes yes! I’m back I’m back I’m back. You can thank @joelmchale.â€
Harmon spoke about the events onstage Saturday night at a Cinefamily event in Los Angeles, revealing that he still hasn’t watched the show’s fourth season, which was run by now-departed David Guarascio and Moses Port. “Sony said they’re very interested in recording me watching it as a commentary track†for the Season 4 DVD boxset, he said. Rob Schrab, Harmon’s co-host at the event, suggested including Harmon’s face in the corner of the screen as he watches the season. Harmon replied, “I think I can do anything. It would move Season 4 DVDs, for sure. But I’ll be checking it out soon, and then I’ll figure out what we’re doing for Season 5.â€
At the event, Harmon also announced that he’s coming back to the show “along with, as my co-showrunner, the hands-down best writer of all the seasons, Chris McKenna,†who penned acclaimed episodes like “Paradigms of Human Memory†and “Remedial Chaos Theory.†Harmon joked, “If any of you are a midlevel writer that doesn’t work for Parks and Rec, let me know that you exist and I would love to hire you.†He added, “Because this city has been picked clean by every show already, and right now we have to put a staff together. So see me after the show. And it pays – I don’t know – 25 grand a week or something like that.â€
Sony hasn’t yet what the reason for Harmon’s return is, but Alan Sepinwall at Hitfix reports that several of the cast members, like some fans and critics, were let down by the fourth season and pushed Sony to bring their old boss back. Community was somewhat-surprisingly renewed for a fifth season of 13 episodes last month, expected to debut at midseason, and it should be pretty exciting to see what Dan Harmon does with these episodes and how he’ll address the events of Season 4.