Two weeks ago, Community fans received a glimmer of hope when they learned that the now-cancelled NBC comedy could be revived for a sixth season on Hulu. That proposal is not an unreasonable one, but Dan Harmon has instructed fans not to get too excited. In an interview with the Calgary Herald at the Banff World Media Festival, the driving force behind Community explained he is “pessimistic” about the prospects of a Hulu-fueled sixth season.
A late-May report spoke of Hulu’s rumored talks with Community producer Sony Picutres Television. The potential Hulu reboot made sense for several reasons: The hashtag #sixseasonsandamovie has long served as a rallying cry for Community fans, the show frequently ranked as one of Hulu’s more popular shows, and online video platforms have emerged as lifelines for beloved-but-cancelled TV shows (with Netflix’s reboot of Arrested Development serving as the best example).
Harmon confirmed that the talks had taken place and Hulu is interested, but he also remains “cynical” about the possibility of a reboot. “I think it’s better to be pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised,” he said.
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One of the biggest hurdles, according to Harmon, is the difficulty of reuniting the entire cast and crew of the show. “It’s a big cast full of talented people with a lot of options,” he explained. “And when all that is done, you’d have to make a deal with me and I wouldn’t want to do it without [writer/producer Chris] McKenna. I think if you lost one piece of that puzzle – what if Yvette Nicole Brown wasn’t in the mood to do it anymore? We’ve already lost Donald [Glover], we’ve lost Chevy [Chase].”
Harmon’s pessimism speaks volumes about the possibility of a Community reboot. At this point, fans should take his advice and assume the show is done for good. There’s always potential for the show to move on without Harmon, but as its fourth season proved, that just wouldn’t be good enough.
Photo credit: Daniel Tanner for WENN.
