Don’t worry, Donald: Dan Harmon says Donald Glover “down to clown” in Community movie

If there was ever a time to drop the phrase “down to clown,” it’s at Variety’s Business Managers Breakfast. And who better than Dan Harmon to seize the opportunity when asked whether or not Donald Glover would be returning for the Community movie? “For lack of a better word, there was a ball fumbled… [Glover] is down to clown,” Harmon said during the keynote conversation. “Man, I would not want to think about making [the movie] without Donald.”

Of course, Harmon made a season and a half of the show without Glover. The Atlanta creator left Community halfway through season five. However, he did return for a charity table read of the season five episode “Cooperative Polygraphy” at the beginning of the pandemic.

In 2016, Glover explained his exit as an outgrowth of his enjoyment of endings.
“I
just like endings,” he said. “I think everything should have death
clauses in them. Humans have death clauses in them. One day Trump is
going to die. That’s guaranteed. It’s important that things end. I’m
glad things end because it forces things to progress. I get really
frustrated in the world that things could be better but can’t be better
because they haven’t died yet.”

Previously, Harmon told Variety that he expected Glover’s return. “I think that Donald is coming, based on word of mouth, but it’s just the deal isn’t official or wasn’t official. It would be difficult to really commit to doing this thing without Donald,” he said. “So I believe he is coming back. I think if there’s names missing from a list, it’s because the names that are on the list, their deals are agreed upon enough that it’s OK to say they are on the list, and anybody that’s not on a list, it’s just not the case yet. So there is nothing official about anybody being out.”

As for when we’re going to see Troy Barnes’ resurrection, that’s still up in the air. But Harmon did elaborate on why the show is coming to Peacock:

Is it smart as a creative to go with the place that you think is more solvent? That’s not how a creative should think, you’re supposed to go with your passion, and ultimately, that is what we did. We can’t control the marketplace, we can’t control Peacock’s future, so we should ignore that, pretend that all things are equal and go with the thing that makes emotional sense.

It’s never been a stranger time for Community to join Peacock, considering the streamer isn’t very down to clown with comedies these days.