The unexpected yet totally expected departure of Chevy Chase from Community spurred many questions regarding how the writers would now be forced to address his absence in the two episodes he'd skipped, whether his character would ever get a proper farewell or simply die on the way back to his home planet, and if this Old Navy commercial is now even sadder in the context of Chase deciding Community was creatively beneath him. Now it seems TV Line is getting answers to all of the less obvious questions: According to their show sources, the crew may already have "devised a way to include Pierce" in those two remaining episodes, with TV Line cryptically reminding everyone that "this is a show that has turned its actors into everything from cartoons to giant pillowmen." So perhaps they'll repurpose some of Chase's leftover dialogue, making it sound as though Pierce has been drafted into a pedophile cult before being gruesomely murdered.
Or, maybe something less definitive than that, as reportedly the crew already rather wisely shot the season finale out of sequence, ensuring Chase would still be there through the end. And as to what might happen beyond that, should Community pull off the miracle of getting a fifth season? Hey, don't worry, because the fourth season ends in "a cliffhanger that leaves the fate of several characters up in the air—including Pierce," making it that much easier to write him off should the show manage to return. And if it doesn't, well, what do Community fans love more than being left to dangle anxiously, wondering forever about the fate of things?