Here’s what we already knew about Donald Glover’s upcoming exit from Community:
- It is happening
- It is not because of his rap career
- The show has at least one excellent joke about it in the can, which you can see in the most recent trailer
And here’s what we found out this morning: Not a lot! Actually, wait, that’s not entirely true. TV Line visited the set and talked to the cast about it, and, yes, most of what they said is the usual, vague, somewhat cryptic language you’ll always get when you ask people about super-important plot points on the show they’re on, but there were a few tiny details that came out of it.
Joel McHale explained that Troy’s exit “is not just sprung on you” in the season’s fifth installment. Instead, “There’s a build up to it, and there’s a really good, really funny reason why he leaves.”
Troy receives “a tantalizing offer” early in the season, Gillian Jacobs added, which causes him to do “some soul-searching and looking inward, trying to figure out who he is and who he wants to be.” And once Troy has come to said realization, he will enjoy “a nice departure that doesn’t make you feel sad about the character; it feels right.”
And Danny Pudi said this, which damn near made me start crying:
“This [departure] is sad because a large part of the show and the experience for me has been this Troy/Abed relationship, and even more so it’s been Donald and Danny hanging out. But I’m excited for him because I know he’s got a lot of things to pursue. The nice thing about [Donald’s final episode] is that the writers did a really good job of doing justice to both Troy and Troy and Abed.”
With Chevy Chase leaving at the end of last season and Glover leaving five episodes into this one, things are going to be more than a little different going forward. And, with that in mind, allow me to make one small suggestion, if I may:
Abed and Leonard in the Moooooooooooorning.
