Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And let’s just say the years have done nothing but strengthen the fandom of a certain beloved mockumentary sitcom. From uninspiring Tinder bios to monster streaming numbers, it hasn’t exactly gone unnoticed, either.
That’s why a few years ago, the top brass over at NBC Universal indicated The Office reboot was actually going ahead… as soon as US creator Greg Daniels was ready to retread that pathway.
“Whenever Greg Daniels wants to do one, we’re standing by,” Susan Rovner, NBC Universal Chairman of Entertainment (Television & Streaming), told Deadline during that year’s Edinburgh International TV Festival.
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Now, as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike comes to a “tentative” end, earning Hollywood scribes “significant concessions” from studios and streaming companies alike in the process; Greg Daniels is finally ready to tackle the long-rumoured The Office reboot. At least according to industry insider Matt Belloni via the (paywalled) Puck newsletter.
One does tend to wonder what this will resemble. Hopefully, it won’t shape up as horribly as the Australian remake starring Felicity Ward, destined for Amazon Prime Video, already sounds — technically the 13th iteration of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s original idea.
Back in 2018, Steve Carell himself — who famously portrayed the paper company’s regional manager, Michael Scott, before departing at the conclusion of the show’s seventh season; and returning for a heartwarming appearance in the series finale — didn’t seem all too enthused by this prospect. Nor did he seem keen on a reunion special (scripted or otherwise).
“There’s been a resurgence in interest in the show, and talk about bringing it back,” Carell explained to Esquire.
“But apart from the fact that I just don’t think that’s a good idea, it might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted 10 years ago.”
“The climate’s different. I mean, the whole idea of that character — Michael Scott — so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behaviour. I mean, he’s certainly not a model boss. A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now.”
Carrell, who has since (re)collaborated with Greg Daniels for Netflix’s Space Force, added: “There’s a very high awareness of offensive things today — which is good, for sure. But at the same time, when you take a character like that too literally, it doesn’t really work… I think it existed in that time and with those people and it felt right.”
“There was something so special about it, and I guess it’s an odd way to put it, but I love it too much to ever want to do it again. It’s too special to me in my heart in that period of time.”
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While Greg Daniels has never publicly announced anything of substance regarding the hypothetical reboot, he has previously flirted with the idea of The Office reunion.
“It’s not impossible for sure,” Greg Daniels once told Collider.
“I think it’s probably more likely now that the show is on Peacock. People are more open to it now it seems like. I think the issue is: what is left to say about the characters?”
“The weird thing about that is when we ended it, we jumped forward a year and a lot of them aren’t working there anymore.”
“Jim and Pam live in Texas now and so does Darryl… But it would be fun to go find some lost episodes and shoot them as if they were back in 2010 or something.”
Outside of Carell, several cast members appear to be extremely game. John Krasinski (Jim Halpert) has consistently expressed interest given how it was “everything” to him and his “beginning and end.”
Supporting players Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez), Kate Flannery (Meredith Palmer), and Andy Buckley (David Wallace) also tossed their hats in the ring; with Nunez gunning to tackle some more poignant issues surrounding his character’s identity.
Brian Baumgartner, Jenna Fischer (Pam Halpert née Beesly), and Angela Kinsey’s (Angela Martin) involvement with The Office podcasts, on the other hand, is pretty self-explanatory. Read: down to clown.
NBC, on the other hand, has made perfectly clear how much it values the US adaptation of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s original series — forking out approximately $500 million to reclaim the stateside streaming rights from Netflix for its own then-fledgling content platform: Peacock.
Keep an eye out here for all updates on The Office reboot.
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