The fourth season finale of “Community” wrote out Pierce Hawthorne by having him graduate from Greendale; which made Chevy Chase’s departure from the series a little easier to handle.
However, the latest departure won’t be as simple.
Vulture is reporting that Donald Glover will reprise his role as Troy Barnes in only five episodes of the upcoming fifth season of “Community.” The stated reason for Glover’s smaller commitment to the series is that he will be concentrating on his musical career as Childish Gambino.
There will be 13 episodes in “Community” Season 5 and it isn’t clear if Glover’s appearances will be spread throughout the season or if Troy will be written out after five episodes. But Glover’s absence from the series will be felt even more than Chase’s. Troy and Abed (Danny Pudi) are two of the driving comedic forces of “Community,” while Pierce was marginalized during Chase’s final season on the show.
Back in September, NBC signed Glover to a development deal for a comedy series based upon his life. That project wasn’t given a pilot order during the last development season, but Glover could potentially focus on that project as well as his music.
“Community” Season 5 is expected to premiere in 2014 during midseason.
