Justin Lubin/NBC
A sixth season may be heading to Hulu.
Deadline reports the streaming service is currently in talks with Sony Pictures TV which produces the series to bring it online.
The quirky comedy starring Joel McHale and Alison Brie was on the bubble at NBC for some time. Behind-the-scenes, showrunner Dan Harmon was ousted at the end of season 3 (before being asked to return for season 5) and the series had a falling out with actor Chevy Chase who left while filming season 4.
After the show's cancellation, Harmon initially expressed some doubt in reviving the series in a blog post, but predicted he would eventually warm up to the idea of bringing it back because he didn't want "to be the guy that recancels cancelled Community."
"I will confess, however, that when Sony called me on Friday with the news, there was brief discussion at the end of the call about the concept of the show living elsewhere, and I was definitely in the "eh" column. For a million reasons, some selfish, some creative, one logistic, five sexual, three racist (in a good way) and, oddly, nine isometric. I won't bore you with them. I mean, of course I will bore you with them. Boring you is my job, my hobby and my passion. But it doesn't matter right now WHY I'd be lukewarm or if my reasons would be valid, what matters is, I won't be lukewarm. I'll heat up. I said "eh" on a Friday afternoon, I will change it to a "sure, let's talk" on Monday morning and Sony can do their thing. I'm not going to be the guy that recancels cancelled Community."
In an age where getting cancelled doesn't necessarily mean the death of a show, fans hoped the comedy may get picked up by Netflix, which has revived "Arrested Development," and, more recently, "The Killing."
They also have a huge amount of eyeballs with 48 million subscribers.
The only problem is that Hulu has a syndication deal to digitally run "Community." Comedy Central has a television syndicate deal in place.
TV Guide L.A. bureau chief Michael Schneider said Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos explained that basically hurt any chance of the show running on said streaming service.
I asked Netflix's Ted Sarandos earlier this year about picking up #Community, he made it clear the show's Hulu syndie deal made it unlikely.
- Michael Schneider (@franklinavenue) May 9, 2014
Hulu sounds like a perfect fit for the streaming site which has yet to have a break-out original series of its own. The cult following of "Community" could help the site expand its current 6 million subscriber base.
Here's to hoping for six seasons and a movie.