For the majority of its life, Community has constantly been in danger of being canceled. That’s why, going back to season three, it has ended each year with an episode that could function as a series finale—wether it’s because of a touching montage, storylines so shitty that they make you wish the show would die, or something that’s a little more vague. For its sixth season (which premiered on Yahoo earlier this year), though, it all ended on an episode that was hard to take as anything but a series finale. Most of the characters went their separate ways, there was a lot of emotional and thematic closure, and a big chuck of it was dedicated to the characters realizing they should let “the show” (this period of their lives) end gracefully.
So it’s a little surprising to know that the show still hasn’t been officially canceled. Sure, the cast’s contracts are all be up and most of the main people have gone on to do new things, but neither Yahoo or creator Dan Harmon have specifically said that the show is done. Unfortunately, we’re not saying that to get your hopes up about Community coming back, we’re only pointing it out because the show is almost certainly done—it’s just that nobody has said anything official about it. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harmon himself says the odds of the show coming back are “bleak,” due to the departure of Yahoo’s chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt. She was apparently one of Community‘s biggest champions at Yahoo, and Harmon says she was the only person who “could pick up the phone and say, ‘Let’s make this Community thing happen.’” Without Savitt, Community getting another season on Yahoo “seems less likely.”
Of course, Yahoo picking up Community in the first place was pretty unexpected, so you never know what will happen these days. Plus, the show still has to fulfill the “and a movie” part of the “#SixSeasonsAndAMovie” prophecy somehow.