Fifteen years ago, seven community college students gathered around a library conference table to find out what happens when weirdos stop being polite and a sitcom goes extra meta.
Created by producer Dan Harmon, NBC’s Community not only launched stars Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown and Ken Jeong to even greater fame, it also introduced audiences to Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi, while also breaking the mold of what a network comedy could do.
While the show attracted a passionate, if niche, fanbase, it was perpetually in danger of being canceled. NBC finally pulled the plug in 2014, but Community returned for a sixth and final season on Yahoo! Screen the following year. And after years for rumors and speculation, it looks like the show’s “six seasons and a movie” prophesy will finally be fulfilled.
In September 2022, Peacock announced that it had picked up a feature-length revival of the series with McHale, Pudi, Brie, Jacobs, Jeong and Jim Rash all signed on to reprise their roles. Earlier this year, Glover also indicated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he would be in the film, and in an interview with GQ this summer, McHale said that the long-awaited Community movie is expected to start shooting next year.
On the 15th anniversary of the show’s premiere, find out what the cast of Community has been up to since it ended in 2015.
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Joel McHale as Jeff Winger
Prior to starring in Community as smooth talking, charismatic former lawyer Jeff Winger, Joel McHale’s biggest claim to fame was as the host of E!’s The Soup, where he used his bone-dry humor to recap the wildest moments in weekly pop culture — and continued to do so until the show was canceled at the end of 2015, earning an Emmy nomination in 2014.
After Community ended in 2015, McHale appeared in two episode of Fox’s 2016 The X-Files revival, reprising his role in the show’s final season in 2018. He also made numerous guest appearances in fellow Community alumnus Ken Jeong’s ABC sitcom Dr. Ken and Hulu’s Difficult People, while also starring in his own short lived CBS sitcom The Great Indoors from October 2016 to May 2017.
In 2018, he hosted Netflix’s The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale, a successor of sorts to The Soup. Between 2019 and 2022, he was a frequent guest panelist on The Masked Singer, hosted ABC’s Card Sharks and had a recurring role on The CW’s Stargirl. Alongside numerous guest roles on shows like Black-ish and The Bear, he’s hosted Crime Scene Kitchen since 2021 and currently stars in Fox’s Animal Control.
McHale’s post-Community film work has included roles in 2018’s Assassination Nation and The Happytime Murders. In 2021, he starred opposite Kerry Bishé in the comedic thriller Happily and appeared opposite Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste in Queenpins. McHale has also voiced John Cage in three direct-to-video animated Mortal Kombat movies and is currently filming California King.
McHale has been married to Sarah Williams since 1996. The couple have two sons. On an episode of Getting Grilled with Curtis Stone earlier this year, McHale revealed that his oldest, 19-year-old Edward, is on the autism spectrum. The actor had previously spoken about learning he was dyslexic after both his sons were diagnosed with the disorder.
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Donald Glover as Troy Barnes
Having made brief appearances on 30 Rock, where he was a writer from 2006 to 2009, Donald Glover landed his first major on-camera role as Troy Barnes, a lovable former jock with a major nerdy streak, in Community. The actor left the series in 2014, only appearing in a handful of season 5 episodes.
Glover has gone on to become one of the most exciting forces in the entertainment business. His acclaimed series Atlanta earned Glover two Emmys, and he scored another Emmy nomination for his provocative show Swarm, which he co-created with Janine Nabers. Most recently, he co-created and starred in Prime Video’s adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith alongside Maya Erskine. The series earned Glover three more Emmy nominations.
Glover’s film work has included roles in 2015’s Magic Mike XXL, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King. Glover has also been closely associated with Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man character Miles Morales, with creator Brian Michael Bendis saying that the actor was the principal inspiration for the character. Glover voiced Morales in two episodes of the 2015 animated series Ultimate Spider-Man, made a brief appearances in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Later this year, he will also reprise his Lion King voice role in Mufasa: The Lion King.
Under his stage name, Childish Gambino, Glover has also released five albums since 2011. His 2024 album, Bando Stone & the New World, also serves as the soundtrack to an upcoming film, directed by Glover in his feature directorial debut, of the same name.
Glover has three sons with Michelle White. The couple began dating in 2015 and were married this past January.
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Alison Brie as Annie Edison
After garnering attention for her recurring role as Trudy Campbell in Mad Men, Alison Brie joined the Community cast as high school overachiever Annie Edison. During the show’s run, she also appeared in films like Scream 4 and The Five-Year Engagement, and provided the voice of Diane Nguyen on Netflix’s acclaimed animated series BoJack Horseman.
After Community, Brie starred in the 2016 miniseries Doctor Thorne from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and her starring role in Netflix’s GLOW earned her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations in 2018 and 2019. Brie has also continued to work consistently in film, with roles in 2017’s The Little Hours and The Disaster Artist, and in Emerald Fennell’s provocative 2020 directorial debut Promising Young Woman. That same year, Brie wrote, produced and starred in Horse Girl. She’s also co-written and starred in 2022’s Spin Me Round and 2023’s Somebody I Used to Know, which was directed by husband Dave Franco.
Brie and Franco were married in March 2017, and the actress has spoken in interviews about the fact that they do not plan to have children. Brie has also been open about her struggles with depression and body dysmorphia, crediting Franco in a 2020 interview with Women’s Health for his support. “I’m so lucky I’m married to a really wonderful, open person,” she told the outlet. “We have great lines of communication, and I can talk often about my feelings.”
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Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry
Gillian Jacobs played the Community study group’s resident activist, Britta Perry, whose ideals frequently exceeded her ability to live by them to hilarious effect. Before the show’s 2009 premiere, Jacobs had a few film roles under her belt, including in 2008’s Choke, as well as guest roles on shows like Fringe, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The Good Wife.
After Community, Jacobs appeared in 2015’s Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and had a recurring role in the fourth season of HBO’s Girls. She’s also starred in comedian Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 film Don’t Think Twice and in the 2018 vacation comedy Ibiza. More recently, she’s had recurring roles on Minx and in The Bear.
Jacobs is in a relationship with The Bear creator Christopher Storer, and even reportedly introduced him to McHale and Molly Gordon, both of whom have also appeared on the acclaimed show in recurring roles. After playing an addict in the Netflix series Love, Jacobs revealed that she has never touched alcohol or drugs owing in part to her own father’s struggles with addiction.
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Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett
Yvette Nicole Brown’s pre-Community résumé consisted of a long list of memorable bit parts and guest roles in shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Two and a Half Men, That ’70s Show and The Office, as well as in films like Dreamgirls, Tropic Thunder and 500 Days of Summer. But in the NBC comedy, she really got a chance to shine as divorced mom Shirley Bennett. While she was a huge part of the series in its first five season, after its move to Yahoo! Screen for its final season, Brown only returned to Community as a guest star.
Since then, Brown has starred in CBS’s reboot of The Odd Couple and had a recurring role for two seasons of the Chuck Lorre sitcom Mom. Her recurring role on A Black Lady Sketch Show earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021. In 2019, she appeared in Avengers: Endgame and Disney’s live-action Lady and the Tramp remake. She also wrote and starred in the indie rom-com Always a Bridesmaid. And in 2022, she appeared alongside Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Idina Menzel in the Enchanted sequel Disenchanted.
Brown has also lent her distinctive voice to a long list of animated projects, including last year’s Wish and this year’s Inside Out 2. Earlier this year, she voiced Beverly Evans in the animated Good Times reboot, Good Times: Black Again.
Brown will next be seen in the upcoming BET+ series The Family Business: New Orleans and in a guest role in the second season of Paramount+’s Frasier reboot.
Last year, Brown got engaged to actor Anthony Davis at the age of 52. “I waited until I found the guy my heart loves,” she said in April 2024. “That’s a testimony and that’s also aspirational and inspirational to women that are in my position.”
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Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir
Before joining the cast of Community in 2009, you may have seen Danny Pudi pop up in episodes of ER, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing and ABC Family’s Greek. His Community character, Abed Nadir, a film student on the autism spectrum who tended to see the world through the prism of TV and film tropes, was the source of many of the show’s meta storylines, arguably becoming the series’ heart and soul.
During Community’s six-season run, Pudi also made notable guest appearances on Cougar Town, Chuck and Hot in Cleveland, and had a cameo in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He’s since appeared in episodes of Angie Tribeca and Better Things, and made another cameo in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. That same year, he starred in NBC’s short-lived Powerless.
Since 2020, Pudi has starred in AppleTV+’s Mythic Quest, also directing one season 3 episode. More recently, he has voiced the recurring role of Dr. Neelankavil on Max’s revival of the early 2000s MTV animated comedy Clone High and appeared alongside Brie in Somebody I Used to Know. This year, he had a recurring role in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Pudi and wife Bridget Showalter welcomed twins Fiona Leigh and James Timothy in January 2012.
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Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne
An indisputable comedy legend and one of the founding cast members of Saturday Night Live, Community was notably Chevy Chase’s first-ever starring role on a TV sitcom. However, playing highly problematic multimillionaire Pierce Hawthorne wasn’t a pleasant experience for the three-time Emmy winner. Unhappy with his character’s casual bigotry, Chase reportedly clashed with series creator Dan Harmon and members of the cast, and in his 2016 memoir, McHale alleged that Chase made offensive comments and jokes on set. Chase left the series after season 4, appearing in only one season 5 episode in 2014.
“I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained,” Chase said on a 2023 episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. “I just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much.”
Since leaving Community, the now-80-year-old actor has only appeared in a handful of film and TV projects. He reprised his role as the repairman from 2010’s Hot Tub Time Machine in the film’s 2015 sequel. That same year, he also returned to the role of Clark Griswold from the Vacation franchise, making a cameo appearance opposite Ed Helms and Beverly D’Angelo in Vacation. In 2019, he starred opposite Richard Dreyfuss in the Netflix film The Last Laugh and appeared as a version of himself in the 2020 meta-comedy The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee. Most recently, he starred opposite fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd in the 2023 horror comedy Zombie Town and voiced the role of Santa Claus in the animated holiday film Glisten and the Merry Mission.
The twice-divorced Chase married Jayni Luke in 1982, and the couple have three daughters: 41-year-old Cydney, 39-year-old Caley and 35-year-old Emily. In August, Chase became a grandfather when Emily and partner Alex Baglieri welcomed a daughter, Ivy Jay.
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Ken Jeong as Ben Chang
Before becoming a film and TV star, Ken Jeong split his time between performing comedy and improv and practicing medicine. But following his breakthrough role in 2007’s Knocked Up, Jeong transitioned to acting full-time, gaining attention for small roles in Step Brothers, Pineapple Express and The Hangover. On Community, he played chaotic and unpredictable Spanish professor Ben Chang, whose class leads to the creation of the show’s central study group.
Jeong’s long list of post-Community film credits includes both Hangover sequels as well as appearances in Crazy Rich Asians and Avengers: Endgame. On TV, he created, wrote and starred in Dr. Ken, an ABC sitcom based on his experience as a physician, from 2015 to 2017. Nearly all of his Community costars appeared on the show during its two seasons. He’s also been featured in Fresh Off the Boat and the 2018 reboot of Magnum P.I.
Since 2019, Jeong has been a panelist on Fox’s The Masked Singer, famously walking off stage during a 2022 episode in which one contestant was revealed to be Rudy Giuliani. He’s also the host of another Fox singing competition series, I Can See Your Voice. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Jeong and McHale co-hosted the podcast The Darkest Timeline, its title a nod to a Community episode.
In 2023, Jeong starred in the second season of AppleTV+’s The Afterparty, and has appeared in two film’s this year: My Spy: The Eternal City and The 4:30 Movie. Last year, it was announced that Jeong was developing a syndicated daytime talk show, which is expected to premiere sometime in 2024.
Jeong has been married to family physician Tran Ho since 2004. The couple welcomed twin daughters Alexa and Zooey in 2007.
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Jim Rash as Craig Pelton
Throughout the late ’90s and early 2000s, Jim Rash made a name for himself as a character actor, appearing on everything from Cybill and Tracey Takes On… to That ’70s Show and Friends. In 2009, he joined the cast of Community as hapless Greendale Community College dean Craig Pelton, also writing one episode and co-directing two.
Rash has since continued to pop up regularly on TV, appearing in guest roles on Glee, Lucifer, Black-ish, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Since 2019, he has voiced the role of The Riddler in Max’s Harley Quinn and its spinoff Kite Man: Hell Yeah! Rash also had supporting roles in American Housewife and Impeachment: American Crime Story.
In 2011, Rash won an Academy Award along with director Alexander Payne and actor Nat Faxon for their screenplay for The Descendants. He and Faxon reteamed to co-direct both 2013’s The Way, Way Back and 2020’s Downhill, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell. He had a small role in Billy Eichner’s 2022 gay rom-com Bros and recently appeared in director Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon opposite Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. Next up for Rash is a role in Disney+’s upcoming Marvel series Ironheart.
In a 2022 interview with AV Club, Rash noted that he had come out over a decade prior.
Source: People
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