‘The Office’ new spin-off series has been greenlit, but will it flop?
In a development that could be either devastating or thrilling for fans of “The Office,” the famous show has been greenlit for a spin-off series.
The Peacock series will be a fresh mockumentary featuring a brand-new cast within the same universe as Dunder Mifflin — where all the fan favorite characters worked. However, the show will not be set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but instead at a failing Midwestern paper company.
“Because this new series will technically be a spin-off instead of a straight reboot, we are at least avoiding the possibility that we get black trans Michael Scott or, I don’t know, nonbinary Mexican Jim Halpert,” Lauren Chen says, who is admittedly a huge fan of the original series.
But Chen is skeptical.
“NBC has been so very blatant in marketing it specifically as a spin-off to ‘The Office,’” Chen says. “They had the opportunity, there was the possibility, of just marketing this new as of yet untitled show as a new sitcom from the creator of ‘The Office.’”
“However, the fact that they are really making it clear that no, this is a spin-off of ‘The Office’ and it’s the same universe, it kind of seems like they’re cheaply trying to attach ‘The Office’ and all the goodwill and fandom that show now has to this new thing.”
“It feels very cheap,” she adds.
While fans of “The Office” have hoped that old cast members will return to the new show, Chen says the “lead stars of the original series are absolutely not interested in it.”
Steve Carell, who played Michael Scott in the original series, shot the idea down right away in an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show.
“I doubt it,” Scott said when Colbert asked if he’d appear in the show.
“He’s not interested; he’s not in it,” Chen says.
“Keep in mind, this is someone who didn’t even want to finish the rest of the original series. He peaced out.”
John Krasinski, who played the beloved Jim Halpert in the original series, has also said he won’t be in the spin-off series either.
“I’m just not confident that it’s going to be done well. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong,” Chen says.
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