Australia’s ‘The Office’ Trailer Is Cringey For All The Wrong Reasons

• Amazon Prime Video has released a trailer for The Office: Australia.
• The remake is led by homegrown comedian and actress Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, managing director of Sydney packaging company Flinley Craddick.
• The eight-part debut season is scheduled to stream on October 18th, 2024.

We’ve made no secret of our disdain for this needless remake — the 13th iteration of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s hit mockumentary format. And the preview dropped by Amazon Prime Video today has only confirmed all our pessimistic suspicions.

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The latest nail in the coffin shines a spotlight on Felicity Ward’s Hannah Howard, the incompetent managing director of Sydney packaging company Flinley Craddick. In a painfully modern “post-COVID plot twist,” Hannah receives news from head office that her branch will be shutting down and that staff will be forced to work from home.

From that point forward, she goes into “survival mode,” making promises she can’t keep, and launches outlandish plots to keep her “work family” together.

At a glance, it’s all the wincing of Gervais’ David Brent and Steve Carell’s Michael Scott with none of the laughs or earnest charm. You’re honestly better off just watching ABC’s Utopia (now streaming on Netflix).

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Ward is joined by Edith Poor as Lizze Moyle — receptionist, front desk executive, and productivity manager; Steen Raskopoulos as sales representative Nick Fletcher; Shari Sebbens as sales rep Greta King; Josh Thomson as head of human resources Martin Katavake; and Jonny Brugh as head of IT Lloyd Kneath.

You can also expect Susan Ling Young as sales rep Tina Kwong; Raj Labade as intern Sebastian Roy; head of finance Lucy Schmidt as Deborah Leonard; Zoe Terakes as head of warehouse Stevie Jones; Pallavi Sharda as regional director Alisha Khanna; Claude Jabbour as Greta’s boyfriend Mason; and Jason Perini as warehouse worker Johnny.

For the morbidly curious (and the genuinely interested alike), The Office: Australia begins streaming via Amazon Prime Video on October 18th, 2024 — check out the trailer above.