A new, movie-style trailer for the Thursday, Jan. 2 return of NBC’s Community riffs on Lord of the Rings, in its epic-ness and tone, but perhaps has its most fun acknowledging the elephant in the room: Donald Glover‘s decision to exit the series after a handful of Season 5 episodes.

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As seen in the two-and-a-half-minute promo, Abed likens the events of the season opener, titled “Repilot,” to a, well, repiloting, in which a network re-launches a show under a sliiightly different guise. Kinda like what Scrubs did in Season 9. And that tees up Glover for a self-deprecating nod to his Zach Braff-like fate.

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Also: You’ve got Justified baddie Walton Goggins ready to subject the study group to a polygraph test, the return of a certain “bandit,” the trumpeting of new episodes brought to you by “the executive producer of Seasons 1 through 3,” Shirley getting fierce, Pelton crying in his un-dean-wear, and Britta capturing it all on YouTube. Or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-3kFjFbSSE