How All 15 Adaptations of ‘The Office’ Stack Up Around the World
It’s been more than a decade since American audiences said goodbye to the cast and crew of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but The Office is far from forgotten. The show left a cultural footprint a mile wide, shaping workplace comedies that followed, fueling endless memes, and turning awkward silences, sideways glances, and staplers in Jell-O into pop-culture shorthand. The Office universe continues to thrive in the spinoff, The Paper, now on Peacock.
Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant for the U.K. in 2001, The Office was built on a deceptively simple format: Take one self-delusional, incompetent boss, add an office romance and half a dozen out-of-pocket characters, put them in a boring 9-to-5 situation, and let chaos ensue. The formula proved so successful, it was repeated again and again for televisions across the globe.
Before the British and American branches closed their doors, The Office left a legacy felt around the world, as 15 countries (so far) adapted the framework Gervais and Merchant created, reshaping it to fit their own cultures and workplaces.
With over a dozen versions, each adaptation is a little different to fit the region and the audience it represents. Some sell paper, while others might sell insurance, water, or packaging. Some bosses are clueless, while others are heartless. Here is a look at the many different versions of The Office and how they stack up against each other. Please enjoy.
The Office, Complete Series, Streaming, Peacock
The Office (U.K.), Complete Series, Streaming, Peacock
The Paper, Complete Series, Streaming, Peacock
The Office - United Kingdom
2001 – 2003
The original series, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, set the stage for the groundbreaking mockumentary sitcom. Gervais stars as the cringeworthy boss David Brent as he runs a paper company, Wernham Hogg, in Slough Trading Estate. He’s aided by the Assistant to the Regional Manager, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), and the couple at the center of the series is Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) and Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis).
The Office - United States
2005 – 2013
The first adaptation is ultimately one of its most successful, despite a shaky start. After a few early tweaks, it finds its groove, and audiences soon tuned in to the antics of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, led by well-meaning but misguided regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his ever-intense Assistant to the Regional Manager, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). The couple at the center is Pam and Jim (Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski), whose will-they-won’t-they chemistry takes up a hefty amount of the plot.
Stromberg - Germany
2004 – 2012
Christoph Maria Herbst stars as Bernd Stromberg, who runs a brutally tight ship at Capitol Insurance PLC, an insurance company defined by a far harsher workplace than other versions of The Office. Stromberg is sexist, xenophobic, occasionally bigoted, politically incorrect, and frequently cruel. Unlike his counterparts, he is no one’s friend. While employees occasionally skewer him, the real punchline is the toxic work culture itself. Stromberg is less an adaptation than a reinvention, delivering a sharper, edgier take that honors the original spirit of The Office while succeeding as something entirely its own. It became so beloved that fans crowdfunded a successful feature film in 2014.
Os Aspones - Brazil
2004
A satire of bureaucracy and the people who run it, this version of the mockumentary series is by far the most out of pocket, as it follows Leda Maria (Andréa Beltrão) as they start assisting Tales (Selton Mello), the chief of FMDO. With a much smaller central cast, the series explores the hypocrisy of public service and government as people use their limited power to get petty revenge and create unnecessary titles.
Le Bureau - France
2006
Regional Director of the Cogirep Villepinte branch, Gilles Triquet (François Berléand), runs the day-to-day operations of his paper company as best he can. The French version is a fairly faithful remake of the Ricky Gervais–Stephen Merchant series in tone; however, Gilles is rougher around the edges and never truly learns from his mistakes. The show retains the trademark cringe humor, but leans more heavily into class tension between management and staff, with jokes that are a bit more risqué, or occasionally, about fromage.
La Job - French Canada
2006 – 2007
Les Papiers Jennings, located in Côte-de-Liesse, Montreal, Canada, is headed by David Gervais (Antoine Vézina, with a name that is a nod to the original U.K. version), who is forced to compete with the Terrebonne branch to avoid shutdown. A failed comedian and aging rocker who never fully grasped corporate life, he is assisted by Sam Bisaillon (Paul Ahmarani) in his efforts to help handle rabble-rouser Louis Tremblay (Sébastien Huberdeau), who harbors a crush on receptionist Anne Viens (Sophie Cadieux).
La Ofis - Chile
2006 – 2007
Santiago Centro’s Papeles Lozano is run by Manuel Cerda (Luis Gnecco), a man who derives an outsized sense of importance from his modest paper company. The Chilean version leans more into absurdist comedy rather than punchline-driven jokes, using quiet humiliation of everyday office survival to reflect the resignation of white-collar life. In La Ofis, Manuel is a tad more annoying than his predecessors, and perhaps Cristián (the Dwight character) is a bit more aggressive, but it’s been praised as a great regional version of the Office template.
HaMisrad - Israel
2010 – 2013
Regional Manager Avi Meshulam (Dvir Benedek) is more low-key than his predecessors, and his right-hand man, Yariv Shauli (Maayan Blum), routinely attempts to impose discipline at Piper Office, but Yossi (Eldad Fribas) routinely foils his efforts. Overall, HaMisrad has a more relaxed tone than other versions of The Office, with cringe humor taking a backseat to broader, slapstick antics.
Kontoret - Sweden
2012 – 2013
Ove Sundberg (Henrik Dorsin) may be socially tone-deaf, but he is trying very, very hard to do the right thing, and that effort makes him endearing. However, the show is steeped in local culture, so when Ove acts out of step with social norms, his coworkers respond with polite distance and passive aggression. There is no eye-rolling here; everyone is simply judging. The result sets the series apart from both the U.K. and U.S. versions, creating a unique blend of hardcore cringe humor and distinctly Swedish sensibilities.
Kancl - Czech Republic
2014
Paper company Papír a Print in the city of Brno is run by Marek Chvála (Václav Kopta), who is neither as socially awkward as Michael nor as subtly tragic as David. Instead, the Czech version employs more slapstick humor. The “Jim” character, Tomáš (Michal Dalecký), is more of a passive observer than he is devious or plotting with Anna (Sara Venclovská). Instead, they both seem to endure. It ran for six episodes, covering the first season of the format.
Konttori - Finland
2017 – 2019
Starring Finnish comedian Sami Hedberg as the hapless boss Pentti Markkanen, a camera crew follows the employees at Leskisen Paperi in Riihimäki. This version is less focused on individual characters and more on the absurdity of office culture; as a result, the show leans into deadpan humor. Still, it feels and looks very much like The Office, especially when it comes to Timo (Pyry Äikää) flirting with the receptionist, Anna (Linda Wiklund).
The Office - India
2019
Jagdeep Chaddha (played by Mukul Chadda) is a boss at the Wilkins Chawla paper company in Faridabad who tends to get too personal with his employees. The only person who is as enthusiastic at work as Jagdeep is his assistant, T.P. Mishra (Gopal Datt). If it wasn’t for the receptionist Pammi (Samridhi Dewan), Amit (Sayandeep Sengupta) would have lost his mind years ago. The Indian version is perhaps the most like the U.S. version.
The Office PL - Poland
2021 – 2025
Located in Siedlce, Poland, the regional manager of the Kropliczanka mineral water company is Michał Holc (Piotr Polak), who tries a little too hard to be liked by his quirky staff. The antagonist relationship between Jim/Tim character Franek (Mikołaj Matczak) and Dwight/Gareth character Darek (Adam Woronowicz) is alive and well, as it translates to an old guard vs. new school dynamic. The Polish version of The Office has been praised for capturing the original’s spirit while creating its own unique comedy.
Al Maktab - Saudi Arabia
2022 – 2023
The Saudi version of The Office, called Al Maktab, adapts the US format to a local courier company in Riyadh. The office romance between Talal Al Buwaibani (Fahad Al Butairi) and Basma Al Khattar (Reem Mansour) is toned down, and there is a greater focus on local customs, and sadly, no cat tossing in the infamous “fire drill” scene.
The Office - Australia
2024
The most recent adaptation, released in 2024, features the franchise’s first female lead, a focus on packaging instead of paper, tons of Aussie references, and far more modern workplace issues. Hannah Howard (Felicity Ward) is a gender-swapped boss, closer to a blend of the UK’s David Brent and America’s Michael Scott, but with her own brand of chaotic incompetence. The Gareth/Dwight character is also gender swapped with Edith Poor as Lizze Moyle, the “productivity manager” for the office, who attempts to increase productivity by removing the chairs in the office.
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