The Office has been off the air since 2013, but it’s still one of the most popular shows on TV. Well, “TV.” The NBC workplace comedy, which ran for nine seasons and made big stars out of Steve Carell and John Krasinski (and should have turned Jenna Fischer into a superstar), broke viewership records when it was added to Netflix, and it continues to do just fine on Peacock.
All of this is to say, The Office is too popular to not return in some form. We finally have an idea of what the form might be. Here’s everything we know about The Office follow-up, including plot details and whether there’s a release date.
Plot
In January 2024, Deadline reported that The Office co-creator Greg Daniels set up “a development room with his trusted writers” to plan the future of the show’s universe (any series or movie that gets big enough will eventually be turned into a “universe”). The proposed new series is not considered a reboot, but rather, it would “be set in a new office with new characters but live within the same world” as the characters in the original series. How does the gig economy impact Dunder Mifflin? We might found out!
Deadline offered a follow-up report this week: “Nathan For You co-creator Michael Koman has emerged as a leading creative voice. If Daniels’ new mockumentary exploratory project gets greenlighted to series, Koman will serve as the offshoot’s co-creator.” If the new The Office is as subversive and weird and wonderful as Nathan for You, it’s a solid choice.
Another premise that Daniels pitched is that The Office 2.0 could be set within the events of the original series, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (or The Lion King 1½) style. “It would be fun to find some lost episodes and just shoot them as if they were back in 2010 or something,” he told MovieWeb.
Cast
Many members of the original cast have expressed interest in reprising their roles, including Rainn Wilson (Dwight), Angela Kinsey (Angela), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin). But Steve Carell issued a warning about the new The Office being a straight-up nostalgic reunion. “I don’t want to be a jerk about it, but I think people who like the show originally would want it to come back exactly the way it was, but that could never happen,” he said in November 2017. “I kind of don’t want to do it because I love the show so much. I think people would be disappointed, I really do.” New characters is the way to go.
Release Date
There’s no premiere date for the new The Office series, or even a hunch of when it might debut on NBC or Peacock or wherever. It’ll still probably happen before the final season of Stranger Things.
Trailer
The show doesn’t exist yet, so, yeah, there’s no trailer. Instead, please enjoy the music stylings of Subtle Sexuality.