Dan Harmon Promises Us Six Seasons & A Movie

Few primetime shows have had a fate more fraught than NBC's Community: First came the threat of cancellation after Season 3, then the ejection of creator Dan Harmon for a limping Season 4, followed by Harmon's triumphant return in Season 5 — only to be greeted by the exit of two of the show's major players, Chevy Chase and Donald Glover. Still, despite all of the surrounding brouhaha, Community has been churning out quality product as of late (social networking sendup "App Development and Condiments" was particularly on point, in my opinion), and it turns out, they may well be able to continue doing so: Yes, according to recent reports, Community may get six seasons and a movie after all.

Of course, this proposed length is a reference to Season 2's "Paradigms of Human Memory" (or, "The One With All Those Flashbacks We Never Actually Saw Before") and Abed's hastily shouted endorsement for The Cape , a show-within-the-show featured therein. What began as a potential thowaway joke, however, soon became a hashtag-able mantra for fans rallying around the show's rocky fate (see: the billion #sixseasonsandamovie t-shirt designs that surfaced pre-Season 4) — and now, reinstated showrunner Harmon says he believes in the "shamanism" of that chance line to carry his show through to its destined conclusion. As he explained in an extended interview with HitFlix last week:

"[I]f the movie has to be made out of clay and duct tape in my basement, then that’s how the movie will be made, because there has to be closure. The title of the book about the show is not 'Community, An Interesting Journey into a Show No One Ever Watched.' The title of the book is obviously going to be, 'Six Seasons and a Movie.' So it’s already over. Sometimes our hands are just tied up in fate."

Now, though, the Greendale Human Beings apparently have more than mere fate on their side: TV Guide reported this morning that Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin is in talks as a potential director of the "and a movie" portion (fans will appreciate that Lin also directed the original paintball episode, Season 1's "Modern Warfare"). Plus, the article noted that NBC and Sony were "optimistic" about a sixth season renewal, if for no other reason than that they're having trouble securing new successful comedies — and, at worst, speculated that "even if NBC were to cancel Community, lead studio Sony Pictures TV would likely aggressively shop the final season elsewhere, to outlets such as Hulu (which already has the show's digital rights)."

Still, as always, with declarations of a show's continuance comes concern for just how many sharks the creators can dodge before officially jumping one (honestly, Glover's exit has yet to be proved entirely a near miss). But concern aside, it seems like we'll just have to strap in for the ride — because if there's one thing we know, it's that if Harmon's intent upon it, it's going to happen. I mean, coming from the man who engineered the long-con of a three-season-spanning barely-noticeable Beetlejuice gag — and made it work, goddammit — you've got to believe he means business, and wonderfully clever business at that.

Even if it's just duct tape in a basement.