Only a few days ago at the Community panel at San Diego Comic-Con, creator Dan Harmon and his cast teased some changes at Greendale Community College for year three and today it’s been confirmed that TV vet John Goodman (of Roseanne and Treme fame among countless films) will join the show in a recurring role.
According to Vulture, Goodman will play the Vice Dean of Greendale’s School of Air Conditioning Repair. Harmon told the NYMag blog that “the Greendale Community College only has one part of it that is actually nationally renowned, and it's their air conditioning repair program. And it's sort of a separate annex on the campus that puts itself above the rest of the school, and ironically has more power than the campus itself."
Which means that it sounds likely that Goodman will face off against the confrontation-challenged Dean Pelton, played by the hilarious and newly promoted regular, Jim Rash.
For those wondering why the Community gang didn’t spill the beans on Saturday at their panel, it was confirmed today that Sony hadn’t sealed the deal with Goodman yet so they requested the announcement be delayed.
However if you missed it, another addition was announced at the panel - Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire, indeed) will join the community college staff as a Biology teacher for three episodes. Harmon also told Vulture that he hopes Williams will bring a bit of “groundedness and reality to the series.” An extended tenor at the college may be short for Williams as he is also appearing in the second season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, but Harmon is going to work his hardest to keep him matriculated.
Community returns to NBC in September.
Very excited about what both actors will bring to the show - there's bound to be some rich meta moments, considering The Wire's been mentioned on the show before. Don't disappoint us, Mr Harmon!
Yeah, I'm way excited to see Williams on Community, should be awesome