‘I Can Say Ken Jeong Is in It’: Joel McHale Confirms at Least One Return for the ‘Community’ Movie

Say it with us: Six Seasons and a Movie.

Community star Joel McHale appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week and delivered both good news and no news. The good news is, the much anticipated Community movie will begin filming in June, and a certain OG Community character will definitely be returning. The “no news” is that neither Yvette Nicole Brown nor Donald Glover are that confirmed cast member.

McHale and Kimmel playfully danced around the question that has been on every Community fan’s mind since the upcoming film’s first cast list was absent some important names — will the full study group (minus the racist one) return for the conclusion of the Greendale story? With Troy, Shirley and Annie’s Boobs (the monkey) still question marks, Jeff Winger himself has set the record straight — Señor Chang is a yes.

McHale joined Kimmel to promote his new workplace comedy Animal Control, and to introduce Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo to McHale’s cast mate Whiskers, an eight-foot-long albino Burmese python. The appearance of the serpentine co-star prompted Kimmel to inquire about a certain beloved animal actor known to Community fans as the mischievous monkey Annie’s Boobs.

Kimmel, knowing full well that fans of the Dan Harmon sitcom have much larger questions about the Community movie cast list, wondered if Annie’s Boobs will return to Greendale in the upcoming film, prompting a snake-entwined McHale to cheekily reply, “I don’t know, but I can say Ken Jeong is in it.”

So far, the only Community cast member who has been confirmed absent for the film is Chevy Chase. McHale previously called the project “a family reunion but without a-holes,” which was pretty easy to interpret as a dig at Chase, whose character was killed off after Chase made one racist remark too many on the Community set. Brown and Glover had both expressed their desire to film a Community movie in the past, but their names are not yet confirmed — though Harmon has publicly commented that he believes both will eventually sign on for the project.

The deadline, however, is fast approaching for Brown and Glover to give us an answer, and until their names are on dotted lines, Community fans won’t be able to rest easy. Nevertheless, we’re happy to hear that at least Jeong has finalized a contract. That’s one cast member who won’t leave us Changing.