Character Relationship Map: Community

Characters

• Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale) — protagonist

  Disbarred lawyer who enrolls at Greendale Community College to earn a legitimate degree after lying about his education. He initiates the study group to spend time with Britta Perry and eventually tak...

• Britta Perry (played by Gillian Jacobs) — protagonist

  A socially active classmate at Greendale who attracts Jeff Winger's attention. She joins the study group initiated by Jeff and helps build the core friend circle.

• Annie Edison (played by Alison Brie) — supporting

  A naïve over-achiever classmate who joins the study group after being invited by Abed Nadir. She becomes a close friend despite the group's initial differences.

• Troy Barnes (played by Donald Glover) — supporting
• Dean Craig Pelton (played by Jim Rash) — supporting

  The flamboyant dean of Greendale Community College. The study group frequently assists him with schemes to improve the school's reputation, and he defends the institution's pride against rival schools...

• Shirley Bennett (played by Yvette Nicole Brown) — supporting
• Abed Nadir (played by Danny Pudi) — supporting

  A socially awkward and pop culture-obsessed student invited by Britta. He helps recruit other classmates to the group and later grapples with the potential end of their friendship in Season 4.

• Professor Buzz Hickey (played by Jonathan Banks) — supporting
• Pierce Hawthorne (played by Chevy Chase) — supporting
• Ben Chang (played by Ken Jeong) — supporting

  A mentally unstable teacher who eventually becomes a student and friend. He attempts to join the study group, plots revenge, and makes a villainous attempt to take over the school before recovering fr...

• Professor Ian Duncan (played by John Oliver) — minor
• Francesca "Frankie" Dart (played by Paget Brewster) — minor

  A new staff member who arrives in Season 6 to rehabilitate the school's image. Her presence challenges the group to reconcile Greendale's chaotic identity with the need for reform.

• Elroy Patashnik (played by Keith David) — minor
• Star-Burns (played by Dino Stamatopoulos) — cameo
• Neil (played by Charley Koontz) — cameo
• Professor Michelle Slater (played by Lauren Stamile) — cameo
• Vice Dean Laybourne (played by John Goodman) — cameo

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Troy Barnes → Vice Dean Laybourne (Recruiter and recruit) — Laybourne sees Troy as a potential member of the Annex and uses pressure and persuasion to draw him away from Greendale's study group.

  "Laybourne repeatedly tries to recruit Troy into the Air Conditioning Repair Annex, including by manipulating a conflict between Troy and Abed."

• Dean Craig Pelton → Jeff Winger (Dean and student, later colleagues) — The Dean repeatedly recruits Jeff for school-related schemes, and their relationship changes when Jeff joins the staff.

  "The Dean pressures Jeff to persuade Troy to join the football team, makes Jeff editor of the campus paper, and Jeff returns in Season 5 as a Greendal...

• Jeff Winger → Britta Perry (On-and-off romantic tension) — Their attraction repeatedly complicates an enduring friendship, but they do not settle into a lasting couple.

  "Jeff starts the study group hoping to pursue Britta; she confesses her love at the Season 1 transfer dance, and Season 2 flashbacks reveal a year-lon...

• Troy Barnes → Britta Perry (Romantic relationship) — Their relationship develops from friends into a private romantic connection that affects their shared friendship with Abed.

  "They secretly sleep together in Season 4 and conceal it from Abed because they fear upsetting him."

• Jeff Winger → Professor Buzz Hickey (Office colleagues) — Hickey is an experienced colleague who helps Jeff adjust to teaching, though they also encounter disagreements.

  "Hickey shows Jeff the ropes when Jeff starts teaching and shares an office with him; they later work together on campus matters."

• Jeff Winger → Annie Edison (Romantic tension) — Their affection and emotional closeness coexist with an age and maturity gap that makes their connection difficult to define.

  "They share a secret kiss before Season 2, and in Season 5 they investigate the Ass Crack Bandit together."

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Troy Barnes → Abed Nadir (Best friends and roommates) — Their friendship is one of the group's most central bonds, built around shared imaginative play and life together.

  "They become roommates, share elaborate games and traditions, and their friendship is tested by competing blanket and pillow forts in Season 3. Troy's...

• Abed Nadir → Troy Barnes (Friends divided by recruitment) — Their close friendship is tested by competing loyalties and a dispute that expands into an elaborate campus conflict.

  "Laybourne manipulates a conflict between them, and they lead opposing blanket and pillow forts in a campus-wide war."

• Ben Chang → Dean Craig Pelton (Campus power struggle) — Their relationship is shaped by the Dean's institutional authority and Chang's repeated challenges to control of the campus.

  "Chang becomes campus security officer, returns as Kevin with claimed amnesia, and later takes control of Greendale and kidnaps the Dean."

• Ben Chang → Jeff Winger (Rivalry and shifting alliance) — Their relationship moves between teacher-student tension, Chang's attempts to join the group, and opposition during his takeover.

  "Chang teaches Jeff's Spanish class, later enrolls as a student and seeks entry into the group, and eventually takes over Greendale before the group w...

• Annie Edison → Shirley Bennett (Study-group friends) — Their friendship is strengthened by shared organizing and school projects, despite occasional competition.

  "They organize an anti-journalist-violence protest in Season 1, work together on campus activities, and help arrange Shirley's wedding."

• Britta Perry → Shirley Bennett (Study-group friends) — They are close friends whose differing approaches sometimes create friction but also lead them to work together.

  "They work together on Annie's condom demonstration, and later Britta and Annie help arrange Shirley's wedding."

• Shirley Bennett → Pierce Hawthorne (Study-group friends and business partners) — Their group friendship develops into a business partnership that brings them into conflict over the cafeteria venture.

  "They attempt to establish a sandwich shop in the cafeteria, and Jeff later represents Shirley in a case involving Pierce's role in the shop."

• Jeff Winger → Pierce Hawthorne (Study-group friends) — Their relationship is often difficult, but Pierce remains a member of Jeff's study group and the group responds to major events in his life.

  "Jeff is paired with Pierce in Spanish after his attempt to partner with Britta backfires, and the group later comes together after Pierce's mother's...

• Annie Edison → Abed Nadir (Study-group friends) — Their friendship pairs Annie's ambition and attention to detail with Abed's imaginative, film-influenced outlook.

  "Annie joins the group after Abed invites her, and in Season 3 she spends time in his dreamatorium and examines their relationships through its simula...

Story Analysis

A study group formed for convenience becomes a durable circle of friends whose shared life is shaped by Greendale's crises, departures, and changes in identity.

Plot Progression

1. Season 1: The Study Group Forms — Jeff creates a Spanish study group to pursue Britta, and the classmates gradually become a close circle. Romantic complications and campus conflicts culminate in a paintball war that forces the group...
2. Season 2: Bonds Under Pressure — The group faces personal losses, unusual campus crises, and shifting relationships. A second paintball conflict unites Greendale's students against City College.
3. Season 3: Friendship and Control — Troy and Abed's friendship comes under pressure from Laybourne's recruitment, while the study group navigates campus disputes and Chang's takeover. The group works together to rescue the Dean and recl...
4. Season 4: Change and Departure — The group confronts changing relationships, family histories, and the possibility that their time together is ending. Jeff reaches graduation while Abed reflects on the connections that brought them t...
5. Season 5: Return and Farewells — Jeff returns to Greendale and becomes a teacher, while the group faces Pierce's death and Troy's departure. Greendale's potential sale gives the remaining friends a new shared problem to solve.
6. Season 6: Reform and Uncertainty — Frankie's reform efforts and Elroy's arrival reshape the group's campus life. The friends continue responding to Greendale's crises and end by imagining a future beyond their six years together.