Yesterday’s talk of Community fulfilling its “Six Seasons And A Movie” mantra only seemed to intensify at the show’s PaleyFest panel Wednesday, where Dan Harmon once again spoke as if it were a foregone conclusion alongside members of the cast—with one notable exception. As it has been on the series, the absence of Donald Glover was both deeply felt and openly addressed, with Harmon discussing how—though they certainly didn’t want Glover to go—his absence has nevertheless created an “energy” that’s generated some new stories for them.
Still, if Harmon has his way, and his faith in shamanism continues to yield dividends, Glover will be back. “I'm just going to go home, kill a chicken, drink its blood, make a Blair Witch thing out of its bones, pray to every deity that I have to that if we do get a sixth season that Donald will have tired of his Donald-ness,” Harmon said of both his hopes for next year, and his beliefs that man can simply ignore his inherent Donald-ness. But if Glover doesn’t return for the sixth season, well, there’s always the “movie” part of that presumed foregone conclusion: “I think it's just the start of our search for Spock in the Community movie,” Harmon also said, suggesting that, should Glover’s Donald-ness keep him from that promised film, they could always work around it by having Troy be a toddler for most of it.
In the meantime, you still have next week’s animated “G.I. Jeff” episode, and to that end, the cast and crew debuted a preview in the form of one of those old G.I. Joe PSAs, to help take your thoughts off Glover’s absence. (And if that doesn’t work, how about a body massage?)