‘The Office’ Showrunner Greg Daniels Assembles Team to Explore Spinoff
The Office could finally be returning in some shape or form as the show’s executive producer, Greg Daniels, has opened a development room with his most trusted writers.
According to Deadline, Daniels and his team will begin work on Tuesday, January 16, to explore ideas for a spinoff of the hit NBC sitcom. It will NOT be a reboot but a new series set within the same universe as the Steve Carell-led mockumentary series, which followed the lives of office workers at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
Daniels was the man behind adapting the show — based on the original BBC series of the same name from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant — for American audiences. After a lukewarm reception to the first season, the show went on to become a critical and ratings success, winning multiple Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series, in 2006.
Fans have long wanted a reboot, but Daniels has remained hesitant to return to the original characters. However, he is open to doing another mockumentary about a different subject set in a new office with new characters.
Chris Haston/NBC/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Speaking to The Wrap in November, Daniels shared his thoughts on a potential reboot, explaining why he wants to avoid rebooting the original show and characters with new actors.
“The characters had closure. I would never want to redo that same show with a different cast because I think we got the luckiest cast, the best cast ever, in TV, to do that show,” he said. “So the notion of a reboot is not of interest.”
He continued, “The notion of maybe something like the way The Mandalorian is a new show in the Star Wars universe, you know what I mean? Something like the notion of this documentary crew doing a documentary about a different subject. That, I think, could be intriguing and creative.”
The Office premiered in 2005 and ran for nine seasons, wrapping up its run in 2013. In addition to Carell, who played incompetent boss Michael Scott, the cast included John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Leslie David Baker, Melora Hardin, Kate Flannery, Brian Baumgartner, Ed Helms, Oscar Nuñez, Angela Kinsey, and Craig Robinson.
Baker, who played the cantankerous Stanley, has been trying to pitch a spin-off for his character in recent years. He launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2020 for a pilot titled Uncle Stan, which would see Stanley forced out of retirement in Florida after he “gets a call from his nephew Lucky in Los Angeles asking for help with his two kids and running his motorcycle/flower shop.”
However, in August 2023, Baker issued $110,000 worth of refunds of the $330,000 raised due to persistent delays with the project, citing COVID-19 and the WGA/SAG strikes as the reasons.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to refund our backers,” Baker stated. “As a token of our appreciation, for your support and patience, the Backer rewards will still be fulfilled along with a full refund. Those of you whose rewards have already been fulfilled will also receive a full refund.”
How do you feel about an Office spin-off? Would you like to see new characters or a return of the familiar faces? Let us know in the comments below.
