The Office came to an end with its ninth season in 2013 and today it’s the most popular show in streaming, but if you were expecting a reboot anytime soon, don’t hold your breath.
The show, which was adapted from the British version, starred Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, BJ Novak, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, Ellie Kemper and many more.
As often happens with popular shows, fans have been hoping that the cast might return for a reboot of the show, even Bonnie Hammer, who was Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises at NBCUniversal, wanted to do one.
Speaking to Deadline, Hammer said, “It is my hope and goal that we do an Office reboot.”
NBCU recently acquired the streaming rights for the show to take it off Netflix in the US and put it on their own streaming service, Peacock.
“The Office comes back to us in January 2021. It is my hope that we can figure what that great reboot would be… We are having conversations.”
Steve Carell has also previously addressed reboot rumours, explaining why he doesn’t think it would work in 2019 – specifically why Michael Scott wouldn’t work.
Speaking with Esquire, Carell said, “Because The Office is on Netflix and replaying, a lot more people have seen it recently,” he said.
“And I think because of that there’s been a resurgence in interest in the show, and talk about bringing it back. 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. 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,” he continued.
Greg Daniels, the creator of the US version of the show, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about a possible reboot, but said the cast was way too busy these days to come together.
“It was such a perfect thing that I would hesitate to open it up. We got the chance to end it the way we wanted to end it. It wasn’t like we were interrupted in the middle of a run or something. So in a sense it’s completely an artistic whole.
“But, that said, I don’t know, the cast every now and then talks about getting back together in some form, but I don’t see it being a reboot like the way Will & Grace was rebooted,” Daniels said.
Krasinski has previously said he’d be keen for the cast to reunite for a Christmas special, but Daniels said he’s still unsure if it’s the right thing to do.
“My biggest concern would be disappointing the fans… People will watch the entire series and then roll right into watching it again, and to me that means we ended it properly.”
I couldn’t agree more.