On Wednesday news broke that Pierce Hawthorne dropped out of Greendale Community College for good. Chevy Chase, who plays the bumbling, bigoted former CEO of a Moist Towelette company, will no longer take part in the NBC sitcom Community effective immediately. The actor and the show “are parting ways by mutual agreement,” according to Deadline. The site also reports that as of Wednesday only one or two episodes of the thirteen that comprise the long-delayed season 4 have yet to be filmed so Chase’s character will in fact appear in most of the upcoming episodes. Additionally, episodes were shot out of order; though Chase won’t appear in some episodes leading up to the season finale, he will (likely) be present in the May capper which has already been shot and wrapped.

If you’ve been following the tumultuous news coming out of Community even before series creator Dan Harmon was ousted this news shouldn’t really come as a total surprise. Prior to Harmon’s exit, there was a very public beef between the showrunner and Chevy Chase involving a nasty voicemail left by Chase. With Harmon out of the picture, just last month Chase went on a tirade in the middle of production vocally sharing his displeasure of the way his character was being portrayed; the N-word was tossed around on a set that includes two African American stars. In between there have been numerous reports of Chase storming off the set, and he has made it known that he’s not a fan of the TV sitcom in general. All in all, Chase’s exit was inevitable.

With the series creator and one of the show’s main stars out of the picture, can Community survive past a fourth season. We’ll see how it performs when it finally returns to NBC’s schedule February 7 at 8PM. Harmon had fun with Pierce Hawthorne and he made a formidable antagonist last season, but perhaps the character has run its course and the show will be better off without a hot-headed presence around. With a strong ensemble cast led by Joel McHale, the prospect of six seasons and a movie still lies ahead methinks.