Fans of Donald Glover will be pleased to know that he will be going back to Greendale in the next Community movie.
Childish Gambino’s first significant acting role was in the cult favorite comedy by Dan Harmon, and when news broke at the end of September that Peacock and Sony Pictures TV had approved a movie, all eyes were on the creative polymath to see if he’d reconcile with his former castmates.
Glover will resume his role as Troy Barnes, according to Joel McHale, who plays Jeff Winger on the show. This was revealed in an interview with Kelly Ripa for the Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast.
“Donald’s coming back, and that’s really important,” he remarked. “The key component was the knowledge that Donald would carry it out. But I believe that everyone will return. We’ve done quite well thus far, I guess. And I believe that will occur. If not, Donald will be there, as you are aware.
McHale explained that by “everyone” he meant everyone but Chevy Chase, who during the course of the show’s six seasons was the subject of numerous allegations of toxic onset behavior.
When asked if Chase would return, McHale responded, “Yeah, I don’t think so,” adding sarcastically, “There wasn’t any issues at all when we were making the show.”
Glover had not officially agreed to join the cast when the movie was announced in November of last year, but Dan Harmon claimed the actor was “down to clown” in the upcoming picture.
According to Harmon, who was speaking at Variety’s Business Managers Breakfast, he is presently writing the movie and “can’t imagine it without series star Donald Glover.”
“There was a ball that was, for lack of a better description, fumbled… Regarding [Glover’s] participation in the movie, Harmon remarked, “[Glover] is down to clown.” I would hate to even consider making [the movie] without Donald, man.
When the Community ensemble came again in 2020 for a virtual table read to raise money for Frontline Foods and José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen as part of a COVID-19 relief program, Childish Gambino reprised his role as Troy Barnes. He and his former cast mates all declared at the time that they would be amenable to the notion of making a movie.
He remarked, “Watching it now, I’m like, ‘Oh, this show’s really punk,'” of the drama. “Really provocative and punk-like. We had a great time, and now I want to rewatch this show as if it were brand-new.
