Community stands out among sitcoms in so many ways, particularly its all-star ensemble. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the characters in the study group, but according to Joel McHale, he was almost cut from the cast at the last minute. McHale appeared on the podcast Dinner’s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson earlier this month, where he revealed that NBC had another actor in mind to play Jeff Winger. McHale said the only reason he got the role was thanks to series creator and showrunner Dan Harmon, who fought for McHale as the smarmy lawyer. The network’s candidate was Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum.
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“Michael Rosenbaum is who the network wanted,” McHale explained. “And Dan [Harmon] wanted me. I think it was very close, it was so close.” McHale added that Harmon’s support stemmed from his girlfriend at the time, who was a big fan of McHale’s satirical talk show The Soup. However, he also said that there was no bad blood between him and Rosenbaum during the casting process.
“Rosenbaum was so cool and supportive,” he recalled. “Because yeah, I mean, you know, like when you get these shows, you have no idea.”
Rosenbaum was fresh off an acclaimed performance on Smallville at the time. He had played Lex Luthor for the first seven seasons of Smallville, but left the series in 2008. Community premiered in 2009, and at the time, McHale had only a few scripted TV roles to his name. However, by then he had become a very familiar face to TV fans, as he shared snarky commentary on viral videos directly to the camera every week.
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For McHale, Community kicked off a thriving TV career that has now included several lead roles in other sitcoms, including his current show Animal Control. Of course, Rosenbaum has had an incredible career since then as well, with most of his big roles coming in movies rather than TV. He even played one of the Ravagers, Martinex T’Naga in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3. There was an unrealized plan for a Ravagers spinoff at one point, so there’s always a chance this role could become more central to the MCU at some point.
Community has cemented its place as one of the greatest sitcoms of its era, and now its coming back for a victory lap. After years of hype and planning, the Community movie will begin shooting this year. In the meantime, the main series is streaming now on Peacock and Tubi.
