Community is heading into Season 5 with a reason for fans to celebrate, as Dan Harmon is back as showrunner. But the show will still have to deal with some big changes, now that Chevy Chase has left the show completely and Donald Glover is going to be back in a reduced role, only appearing in five of Season 5’s 13 episodes.

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On Community, Harmon worked hard to keep the Greendale 7 the Greendale 7, resisting the urge to change the group’s dynamic – making it a plot point, for instance, that Chang never became one of the study group, despite trying to hard to be one of them. That being the case, it’s a big question how the show will deal with these real life changes in Season 5.I spoke to Harmon this week for an upcoming interview about his Adult Swim animated series, Rick and Morty, and also had the chance to ask about the lack of Pierce and diminished role for Troy in Community: Season 5. Said Harmon, “ We are going to deal with it head on.” He said he felt it was important to acknowledge the characters leaving before there was talk of replacing them – or as he put it, “’Oh, Coach is gone! Let’s bring in Woody,’ which was a genius move, historically, on Cheers’ part.”Harmon remarked, “You just look at Chevy and Donald being powerhouses of comedy on that show and also the audience gets used to something. TV is comfort. Whether it’s replacing characters or not, you know you have to do something to protect against the vacuum that’s going to happen when they’re leaving.”As far as the possibility of new characters being brought in or previously established characters having a larger role, Harmon said, “What we’re planning on doing is a matter of creative strategy right now in the writers room as we continue to break our first stories because we’re also talking to the various casting people right now and seeing ‘Is this person available?’ Because if that person is available then this character is going to be more integral and so on. I can’t divulge anything, because we’re still talking to so many people about so many different angles.”I told Harmon that all of what he was saying made me pretty confident that Season 5 wouldn’t begin with Chang and the Dean now sitting with the study group with no real mention of it. He replied, “It won’t be that direct a solution," but couldn't resist adding, “I shouldn’t even say that, because who knows?!”