Alison Brie Loves ‘Rooting’ for Her Community Castmates in Their Group Chat — Which Has the Most Perfect Name (Exclusive)

Sometimes castmates turn into friends for life.

Alison Brie, who found fame as a member of the cast of Community, tells PEOPLE that she and her former sitcom castmates stay in touch the way most friend groups do: with a group text. “We text each other all the time. It's the whole main gang,” the actress, 41, tells PEOPLE. The chat is named Greendale, after the fictional community college from the series.

“I would say mostly, as a default, it's a Happy Birthday chain, and then secondarily, a 'Congrats On That Cool Job' chain,” she says of her accomplished castmates, who include Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi and Gillian Jacobs. “But also every so often, [we send] funny memes or pictures of ourselves when we run into each other or hang out. Two of us go on a hike and then we text the group to be like, ‘Love you guys.’ And everybody gets jealous. ‘Why are you guys on a hike and we're not there?’ ”

Seeing the success of her castmates since the series ended in 2015 has been a “joy” for Brie. “It's the best. It's so fun,” the GLOW star says, “Because these people are like family to me, we really love each other and are always rooting for each other genuinely. It's a lot of pride, honestly.”

The Mad Men star also has a lot of “nostalgia” for the years she spent on the Community set. The show premiered in 2009 — well before Glover debuted his Childish Gambino rap alter ego and released music.

The Community cast listened to his early EPs on set, she shares. “We got to sit there and listen to his songs and kind of go, ‘Oh wait, you're really serious about this music stuff, huh?’ ” Brie remembers. “That's so funny to think about now.”

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. She jokes, “One of my favorite things to do on the Community set was rap Donald's music to him and make him really cringe. It continues to be a favorite thing of mine to do.”

Glover is not the only cast member she’s proud of. “Even watching Joel and Gillian guest star on The Bear is so fun, and a different side of them that I'm seeing in those characters,” she says. “So it's just been fun to watch everybody grow and thrive, and they're all good people, so I just feel so happy for them, for my family.”

Brie, whose recent roles include Somebody I Used to Know and Apples Never Fall, is set to reunite with her Community costars on-screen in a movie. After years of speculation — and a rallying cry from fans for #SixSeasonsAndAMovie — NBC confirmed in 2022 that a movie adaptation would be headed to Peacock. McHale told GQ in July that the movie is fully funded and should start filming in 2025; he blamed his work schedule for the delay. (Former costar Chevy Chase is not involved.)

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Brown gave a movie update to The Wrap earlier this month. "I think it’s being reworked, but we all have read an entire, full script. So a script exists," she said. The actress added that the 2023 strike is also part of the reason why the film was delayed. “It’s just now trying to get all these puzzle pieces together of everybody’s schedule," she explained. "But it’s going to happen. We are going to do the movie, and we’re all on board to do it.”