‘The Office’ spin-off is finally happening 11 years later
It’s been over a decade between drinks at the office water cooler – and now, some exciting news for fans of iconic series The Office.
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It’s a return to the office mandate – The Office spin-off is officially happening.
On Wednesday, Peacock said the untitled new comedy will hail from Greg Daniels (who adapted the original NBC show) and Nathan for You co-creator Michael Koman.
Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson, 40 (About Time), and Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, 56 (The White Lotus), will lead an ensemble cast.
It’s not clear if either (or both) of them will be in a boss role, similar to Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) or if they’ll perhaps be this show’s version of star-crossed couple Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer).
Ironically, Gleeson has previously terrorised Carrell onscreen in Hulu’s The Patient.
The show isn’t returning to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Per Peacock’s description, this spin-off will be set in the same world, following different characters in the Midwest.
“The documentary crew that immortalised Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters,” according to Peacock.
“It’s been more than 10 years since the final episode of ‘The Office’ aired on NBC, and the acclaimed comedy series continues to gain popularity and build new generations of fans on Peacock,” Lisa Katz, president of NBCUniversal Entertainment, told Peacock in a statement.
“In partnership with Universal Television and led by the creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling: a daily newspaper.”
Original UK The Office creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are on board as producers.
The American The Office aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013 for 201 episodes, launching actors such as Carrell, Krasinski and Mindy Kaling to stardom.
The original mockumentary followed the daily lives and antics of employees at a paper company, including blowhard boss Michael, perpetually flirting Jim and Pam, eccentric Dwight (Rainn Wilson), chilly Angela (Angela Kinsey) and frequently exasperated Oscar (Oscar Nunez), among others.
In the book, Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of ‘The Office’ by Brian Baumgartner (who played Kevin) and Ben Silverman, an executive producer, the cast and crew dish about how the show began as a scrappy underdog with little support from its network — including regular messages that it was getting the axe — low ratings and mass scepticism.
Throughout Season 1, which snared fewer than 5 million viewers per week — dismal for network TV at the time — an NBC executive frequently came to the set to inform everyone that the current episode would be the end of the series.
“He was like, ‘This will be the last one … It’s just not getting the ratings and the network doesn’t get it.’ He said that every week of the first season,” Krasinski recalled in the book.
“NBC didn’t give enough of a s**t to even pay attention to it,” Silverman said, adding that when he begged then-network president Jeff Zucker to renew the show for Season 2, “I was thrown out of his office.”
Production on the untitled spin-off will start in July. The new show will premiere on Peacock.
This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as ‘The Office’ spin-off is finally happening 11 years later
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