A compelling Community fan theory suggests that Abed Nadir knew he was a star of a TV show, and the various evidence presented is undeniable. Danny Pudi played the eccentric character for all six seasons of the comedy created by Dan Harmon. Despite his troubles relating to others, Abed cemented his spot among the study group at Greendale Community College. He sure had his quirks, but Abed was accepted for who he truly was by his friends, especially Troy Barnes (Donald Glover). The series, which ended in 2015, has found new life considering Community is now streaming on both Netflix and Hulu.
Throughout Community, it was made abundantly clear that Abed was an expert when it came to pop culture. He consistently threw out references to well-known movies and TV series, most of which went over his friends' heads. Abed didn't have the best childhood, so he immersed himself into American pop culture as a way to cope. His father had hopes of Abed taking over the family falafel business, but Abed had dreams of study filmmaking while at Greendale. By the end of the series, he finally got a gig working on a TV show in California.
Community was known for parodying beloved franchises, as well as TV and movie tropes. To go even deeper, Abed had a habit of creating meta moments within the series. For this behavior, many fans believed that the character was well aware that he was starring in a TV show. One particular fan shared such a theory (via Reddit), pointing at how Abed would directly reference the show's fate while connecting it to the events of the characters' lives.
The Evidence That Abed Knew He Was On A TV Series
Abed broke the fourth wall multiple times during Community. This is often featured in mockumentary style shows like The Office or Parks and Recreation when the characters are fully aware they're being filmed. That wasn't the case with Community, but Abed still looked directly at the camera in certain situations. He would also say things to the camera like "to be continued" or "cut to 3 weeks earlier" as if he was in on the production process. In addition, Abed was well aware of the significance of bottle episodes — even framing them as such — and referred to their years at Greendale as "seasons."
More evidence of Abed's understanding arose in the final episodes of Community season 5. In "Basic Story," Abed admits the issues that come along with the lack of a story. At one point, he even forced the camera to chase him around the building. In reality, Community was facing cancellation, so Abed wanted to make sure his friends went on one last adventure. The threat of the series ending was even incorporated into Abed's dialogue as he stated "we're going to end it on our terms."
In the end, Abed and his friends got one more shot since the series moved to Yahoo! Screen for the sixth and final season. It's very plausible that Abed knew that he was a star of a show called Community, but more importantly, this aspect just added another interesting aspect to an already dynamic character. Harmon created an ensemble comedy, but he made it stand out through twists, turns, and mindbending elements like the "darkest timeline". In doing so, he made Abed the one character who could believe in almost anything.