For years now, Community fans and the show’s cast and crew have been using the phrase “six seasons and a movie†as a half-joking mantra about the show’s future, but now, it looks like the show might actually be getting a sixth season and a movie.
TV Guide reports that plans for the movie are in the early stages and that Justin Lin is being considered to direct. Lin directed the last four Fast and the Furious movies and three episodes of Community, including the show’s famed paintball episode. TV Guide adds that “NBC and Sony insiders say they’re optimistic†and that if NBC passes on another season, Sony “would likely aggressively shop the final season elsewhere, to outlets such as Hulu.†Community’s odds at NBC are also helped by the fact that NBC has canceled all of its new Thursday night comedies this season (Welcome to the Family, Sean Save the World, Michael J. Fox Show) for the second year in a row, leaving Parks and Rec, which has already been renewed, and Community as the only stable parts of its Thursday night comedy block.
Creator Dan Harmon told HitFix last week that, if the show actually gets a sixth season, he’ll have to make a movie to make the “six seasons and a movie†mantra trueâ€:
I mean, if they do a sixth season, I have to participate. And having done that, if the movie has to be made out of clay and duct tape in my basement, then that’s how the movie will be made, because there has to be closure. The title of the book about the show is not “Community: An Interesting Journey into a Show No One Ever Watched.†The title of the book is obviously going to be, “Six Seasons and a Movie.†So it’s already over. Sometimes, our hands are just tied up in fate.