The Office might be coming back. No, really this time.
Ever since the beloved sitcom went off the air in 2013 — and especially amid its massive streaming popularity — there have been rumors (and hopes) of a reboot. But now it seems like much more of a reality than ever.
Matthew Belloni and Jonathan Handel of Puck News broke the major news that Office creator Greg Daniels was working on a reboot. The news, however, was an aside in a larger conversation about the Writers Guild of America reaching a tentative deal with studios and streamers to end their strike.
The authors wrote, “Greg Daniels is set to do a reboot of The Office, for instance,” while commenting on where the industry goes when the strike ends. Well, excuse me! Talk about burying the lede for scores of Office fans.
As of now, the details are scant. In fact, the details are…literally just that sentence. But that hasn’t stopped folks from speculating and proffering their opinions.
I’m a huge fan of The Office. It was a comfort show that turned into an obsession, which led to 30,000 words comprehensively ranking every episode and a Quixotic quest to find Michael Scott’s Hawaiian shirt. I think there are two major camps from Office fans regarding a reboot. One: Don’t tarnish the legacy. And two: Would love a reboot, but only if we get the cast back.
But as a not-so-wise person once said: “You got your sheep, and you got your black sheep, and I’m not even a sheep. I’m on the freakin’ moon.” In other words, I propose a third path.
I want a reboot without any of the heavy hitters. No Jim and Pam. No Dwight. And yes, no Michael either. The Office was at its best when we got to see characters change and morph. It became a top-tier sitcom yes by being hilarious, but also by making us care about the characters and their growth. There is simply nowhere left to go with the old cast of The Office.
And while I appreciate the late seasons of The Office more than most — check my rankings — even I can agree the show had run its course by the time it ended. In fact, the reason I like the late seasons more than most people is because of additions like oddball Robert California and a star-turn for Ellie Kemper as Erin. I liked seeing something new.
If the reboot brings back Steve Carell, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, or, hell, even Kemper, Ed Helms, or Mindy Kaling, then I think we’re headed for a nostalgia-fest. And while nostalgia is nice and fuzzy, it doesn’t make for good TV. It makes for half-baked plots and grabbing cash. Those actors all found their big break with The Office and the result was fantastic. But bringing them back to rehash things in Scranton feels like an SNL sketch. Probably because it was an SNL sketch — where the recurring joke was how much money was being left on the table by Carell not doing a reboot.
The Office was great, in part, because it helped all those amazing actors break out. Let’s do it again. I think it’s fine if you bring back some minor players for continuity — characters like Toby, Kevin, Meredith, Creed, or Phyllis — but let’s give the reins over to some new folks.
The magic of the show was detailing the ways people pass the time trying to get by in their jobs. After all, Pam’s closing quote for the show was, “There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”
We already saw the original cast go through their Dunder Mifflin journey. If the reboot is going to be centered in the same place, then I think it’s far more interesting to see some new folks navigate that challenge. I’d rather see new, interesting characters — characters with surprising places to grow— make life beautiful in Scranton than see some warmed-over Jim-on-Dwight prank again. I can rewatch the old episodes if I want to see them.
The premise of The Office — making depressing office life seem charming and funny — is brilliant. And we know the writers can pull it off. But I don’t think they can pull it off with a cast that already did that. Casting Carell, Krasinski, Fischer, and the like would be easy. It would make a lot of money and, yes, I would watch. It would also likely require tearing down the character growth fans followed for nine seasons, and it would be super depressing to see the characters who outgrew Scranton return back to where they were.
In the end, I do generally trust showrunner Daniels to steer the ship. I just hope he leaves the old Dunder Mifflin crew off it.