During the Community panel at Comic-Con, the stage was packed with writers, producers, and actors from the show. In between impromptu dances and songs, we got some great hints about next season . . . and the cast got a chance to deliver a lot of zingers. Here are some of the best.
Top image: "Let's Go" by Znuese on Deviant Art
Writer Megan Ganz immediately won us over by coming out in a "Save The Cape" t-shirt, and correcting the actors about their characters. When Joel McHale (Jeff) was asked who he's always texting, he said, "I'm just composing texts, I'm not necessarily . . . actually, he's just texting his hairdresser. I don't think Jeff twitters."
Ganz responded, "Yes you do — you lost a bunch of followers on one episode. I guess you don't watch the show enough."
Then, all our suspicions about the show were confirmed when executive producer Russ Krasnoff said, "When Dan Harmson first talked to us about a show, he pitched time travelers and aliens from space, and then this one . . . but we didn't know he would put it all in Community." So even the execs have figured out that Community is basically a science fiction show.
McHale also dropped a hint about his father. "Eddie Murphy will be playing Jeff's father," he joked. "Pluto Nash himself." Was he joking? You never know.
Producer David Guarascio dropped a lot of hints about next year. First of all, they're going to keep things science fictional with an episode devoted to an Inspector Spacetime convention. He hinted that there will be animation again too, possibly even in the first episode.
Also, characters will change. "It's senior year," he said. "That's going to give us a chance to explore new relationships — real significant relationships. One might involve the Dean and Jeff." Quipped McHale, "I've already waxed my body." Another relationship will bloom, too. The sparks between Troy and Britta "may turn into a fire," Guarascio said.
"Yeah, we've seen a lot of sparks in that relationship," the panel moderator observed.
"Wait, what?" asked Gillian Jacobs (Britta). "Did you say there's a lot of farting? The true sign of love is flatulence." Then she added, "I think they'll have a lot of sparks and farts, and I trust these writers not to send us into the realm of a relationship show."
Along with farts, we'll be seeing Pierce at home. "We're gonna get to see Pierce's mansion and the twisted world where he lives. [His water bed is] only the beginning of the disturbing images you'll see." Guarascio said.
Looking back on his character arc over the series, Danny Pudi (Abed) said he was really pleased by the fact that his character got to be a lot more than the butt of jokes. Then he added, "I like to assess a season by what I wore, but this season was all about the fake facial hair."
Ganz said the show's fans always amaze her, especially when comes to Inspector Spacetime. "When we aired that first 20 second clip, we said Blorgons in it, and the next morning we saw pages and pages of what people had written about the backstory of Inspector Spacetime, and they wrote 'Blogons' in it. The guy who played Inspector Spacetime told them, 'No, it's Blorgons,' and they went through and changed it! That's why we made a Blorgons joke [in a later episode]."
Yvette Nicole Brown talked to a fan who was doing Inspector Spacetime cosplay and revealed that she'd taken her robe from a room at the Westin. "Stealing bathrobes — this is a big deal you guys!" Brown gushed. "The things you've done! We were reading the twitters so we also know what you were doing last night waiting for this panel."
The crowd went wild. Here's hoping for six seasons and a movie.
Bottom image: Inspector Spacetime poster by Ameba2K on Deviant Art.