Ib ijonkbojats: {alltv} Community Finale Scoop: Josh Holloway vs. Joel McHale in a Sergio Leone Gunslinger Showdown?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

{alltv} Community Finale Scoop: Josh Holloway vs. Joel McHale in a Sergio Leone Gunslinger Showdown?

In case you haven't heard, Lost star Josh Holloway (that's Sawyer, yo!) is guest-starring in the season finale of NBC's cult-hit comedy Community as a "mysterious stranger." Now, when we add up the fact that producers teased a "Sergio Leone homage" for the finale and the fact that finale is a bookend to last year's fan-fave paintball episode, plus this "Wanted" poster from the set, plus Holloway's whole look, we start to get the feeling that Holloway is going to be playing Greendale's own dangerous and elusive Man With No Name. Will he be shooting it out with someone from the study group, most likely Joel McHale's designated alpha male Jeff Winger? Here's what the stars of Community told us about the show's fateful finale:

See, we have this theory about the casting of Josh; short of Clint Eastwood himself, Holloway's about the only guy around who could possibly be believable as someone cooler than Jeff Winger. Y/N? Says Joel, "I agree fully with that theory, because he is cooler than me, just by walking in a room, and Jeff is a little unhappy about it. Or happy about it. Maybe he learns a little something about himself from the experience."

Danny Pudi (universally beloved by cast, crew and press line alike, BTW) agrees with Joel's assessment of the situation, saying, "That's one of the fun things about this episode is that you'll see how Jeff's character reacts—that's probably my favorite thing about the episode. Clearly when this character shows up at Greendale everybody's going to be, 'Wow, who's this new guy?' But the best part is watching Jeff's reaction." Among other things, Holloway may be horning in on Jeff Winger's action with lady friend Britta. Gillian Jacobs tells us, "He's a very handsome man with an amazing bone structure," and confirms, "I have some scenes with Mr. Holloway."

Ken Jeong tells us that the two-part finale (said to be one part spaghetti Western, one part "another genre") is not just a WarGames knockoff: "They don't duplicate the first one, it's better. It's original. I think calling it a sequel doesn't do it justice—I think it's a companion-piece/bookend, I really do." Pudi expands on that, saying, "It's very different than last year's paintball episode, everything from the costumes to the weapons, even. Everything is stepped up a notch this year. That's another thing too, there's so many characters—you're going to be like, 'Whoa, how many people are involved in this game?' "

Are you as excited as we are to have Lost star Holloway back on TV?