NBC’s ‘Community’ season 5 spoilers: Gillian Jacobs, Joel McHale on Donald Glover’s exit
Dark times are ahead for “Community,” and we’re not just referring to the darkest timeline. The sixth episode of season 5 is going to have a certain layer of sadness to it, given that we are losing Donald Glover who is insanely talented. He’s an actor, a comic, and a rapper, and Troy Barnes is in our personal top 3 favorite characters along with Britta and Abed. Episodes with him in them are just in some bizarre way cheerier.
But you can at least know that when Glover and Troy do leave the show in episode 5, it will be a proper send-off. As Gillian Jacobs (Britta) tells TVLine in a new interview, Troy will receive some sort of offer early on in the season that is too hard for him to pass up, since it will allow for an opportunity for him to have a happy and fulfilling life. From here, she goes on to explain how this was a difficult situation for Abed and for the cast, but it may ultimately be the best thing for Abed in order to see a different dimension to the character:
“It’s one of those really bold storytelling moves that you probably would never want to make as a writer, but when it’s forced upon you, it’s a good opportunity to write some epic episodes – which I think they did. We would never want to split Troy and Abed up, but it’s probably good for Abed, to push him to see who he is outside of that friendship… It was kind of a crutch for both of them.”
Meanwhile, Jacobs’ co-star Joel McHale had his own very-nice things to say all about Glover, including just how much of a joy that he really was to work with during the past five years:
“As an actor, when you shoot something that’s intense and emotional, you can then go home and have a glass of wine – or four! But with this, Donald was really leaving and it was very sad. I count those years with Donald as a privilege, to both work with him and be with him. Despite being one of the most talented, funny guys, he’s a really great guy — I would hang out with him even if he was talentless! Yeah, I miss him.”
One incorrect myth about Donald’s exit is that he is leaving solely to focus on his career as rapper Childish Gambino; in reality, he is working to develop a new series for FX, and he likely just felt like at this point, there was a different creative itch that he needed to scratch more than anything.
Want more “Community”? Then just be sure to click here, where you can see all sorts of scenes from the upcoming January 2 premiere on NBC.
Photo: NBC