Community may have struggled in ratings when it originally aired on NBC, but in the years since its sixth season concluded, the show has reached cult status. Love for the show has only grown in recent years after the sitcom was made available on Netflix. Now, the long-awaited Community movie is confirmed to debut on Peacock in 2023.
The series, which was Rick & Morty co-creator Dan Harmon's first show, became a launchpad for the careers of talents like Donald Glover and Alison Brie. Out of the show's main and supporting cast, it features some of the best characters in TV history. These are easily the best of the best when it comes to Greendale's students and faculty.
9 Pierce Hawthorne
Chevy Chase played a big role in the first four seasons of Community as the out-of-touch business magnate Pierce Hawthorne. Once the heir to a moist towelette empire, Pierce is eager to be accepted by the rest of the study group. However, in the show's early seasons, Pierce comes to resent the fact he's made the laughingstock of the group.
Pierce's character development reaches no greater heights than the finale of season 2, when he leaves the group out of pride. Though he quickly returns in season 3, the character loses some steam for his remaining time on the show. Even Chevy Chase disagreed with this Flanderized direction, which resulted in his firing during season four.
8 Frankie Dart
Paget Brewster, of Criminal Minds fame, joined the cast of Community in its sixth season as Frankie Dart. A consultant hired to whip Greendale into shape, Frankie doesn't mesh with the group early on due to her bland and stoic personality. However, her determination to help Greendale quickly allows her to let loose and embrace the group's weirdness.
For the show's often-absurd sixth season stories, Frankie serves well as a straight-man character to the group's usual antics. In one of her best moments, she chews out the Dean for falling prey to guerilla marketing courtesy of Honda. Her immediate regret of her unprofessional actions perfectly shows how Greendale wears her down over the season.
7 Ben Chang
Ken Jeong was a certified scene stealer in the first season of Community as Spanish teacher Ben Chang. However, after getting fired at the end of the freshman season, Chang's role in subsequent seasons would vary greatly. In season 2, he becomes another student eager to join the group, but in season 3, his goals become more nefarious.
After being hired as head of security as Greendale, Chang ultimately takes over the school as its dictator. Though this arc is incredibly satisfying, it's a bit underwhelming in season 4 when Chang reappears suffering from amnesia. Fortunately, seasons 5 and 6 return the character to his role of adding absurdist, non-sequitur humor in each episode.
6 Shirley Bennett
As an OG member of the study group, Shirley is perhaps the one who changes the least throughout the series. She begins attending Greendale after her husband leaves her for a younger woman, forcing her to question her future and dreams of a career. Eventually, Shirley becomes a successful businesswoman, opening a sandwich shop in Greendale.
Shirley's bond with characters like Annie and Britta is also a highlight of later seasons. Sadly, Yvette Nicole Brown departed from the show before its sixth season, only appearing as a cameo in two episodes of the show's final season. Hopefully, the anticipated Community movie will see Shirley return to her maternal roots in the group.
5 Jeff Winger
Joel McHale takes center-stage in Community as Jeff Winger, a lawyer-turned-community college student. Needing a legitimate bachelor's degree, Jeff enters Greendale hoping to skirt the rules and speed-run his way to graduation. Though he's reluctant to show emotion, his time with the study group softens him enough to truly care of the study group.
By the time the show has ended, Jeff isn't as eager to leave Greendale as everyone else is. He takes up a job teaching law, which offers him the perfect balance of slacking and pursuing his passion for talking. Few actors can pull off Jeff's transition from cold-hearted sleazeball to sarcastic but caring friend like McHale, but he does it with stride.
4 Troy Barnes
When it comes to breakout stars, few shows have had their hands on a diamond like Donald Glover. In early seasons, Troy quickly became the show's primary comedic relief. In fact, Glover's talent in improvisation resulted in Harmon's scripting neglecting to write jokes for Troy, knowing Glover would come up with something funnier on the day of shooting.
Troy's personal journey in the show wouldn't have come without Donald's performance, either. Originally written as a jock clinging to his high school status, Troy eventually lets go of his toughness, befriending Abed and embracing his nerdy side. By the time Troy departs in the fifth season, he's blossomed into a heroic character facing his future with pride.
3 Britta Perry
In the first season of Community, Britta is a washed-up twenty-something who finds herself the object of Jeff's attraction. However, Britta's moral integrity and pursuit of education stands in the way of Jeff's ability to get what he wants from the study group. Eventually in the first season, Britta finds herself falling for Jeff as she recognizes his heroic aspects.
As the show continues on, however, Gillian Jacobs perfectly embodies the comedic stylings of Britta. The character retains her morality, but rivals Troy with some of her best comedic moments. Though characters are quick to call Britta "the worst" for her buzzkill nature and cringworthy behavior, every Community fan knows she's one of the best.
2 Abed Nadir
Community simply wouldn't be the show it is without Danny Pudi's Abed, a character so obsessed with TV and movies he can only view life through its lens. Oftentimes, episodes of Community are framed around Abed's POV of its genre, whether it's a paintball action movie, or a simple dinner conversation in the vein of My Dinner With Andre.
However, Abed's worldview also often leads to conflicts between other characters. For instance, an episode spent between him and Annie in his Dreamatorium simulation confronts Abed's lack of ability to predict human behavior accurately. Eventually, Abed's opening up to social situations is one of TV's most heartwarming character arcs.
1 Annie Edison
When Alison Brie first appears as Annie in the pilot of Community, she's a precocious teenager trying to get her life together after a pill addiction. However, even throughout the first season, Annie feels like the character in the study group who grows up the most. In a literal way, her maturation is something that attracts the romantic attention of Jeff Winger.
By the time season six rolls around, Annie's a far cry from the cardigans and skirts of her past. She's become a confident, intelligent, and emotionally courageous worker, almost a ringleader for the Save Greendale Committee. By the time she announces her intentions to work for the FBI in the finale, it's hard to deny how successful Annie is bound to become.