The documentary team behind the US version of The Office are setting their sights on a new project - a daily newspaper.
The documentary team behind the US version of The Office are setting their sights on a new project - a daily newspaper.
Get ready to return to The Office - a new version of the show is officially in the works.
Variety reported this week that a new comedy series from Greg Daniels, who created the United States version of the beloved show, and Nathan for You creator Michael Koman, has been confirmed.
According to Peacock, Domhnall Gleeson, best known for time-travelling rom-com About Time and The White Lotus’s Sabrina Impacciatore will head up a brand-new ensemble cast.
Sabrina Impacciatore and Domhnall Gleeson will star in an upcoming show set in The Office universe. Photos / AP
It’s not clear whether they’ll both play the role of the boss, like Steve Carell’s iconic Michael Scott, or if they’ll form this version’s central couple like John Krasinski’s Jim Halpert and Jenna Fischer’s Pam Beesly.
However, the show isn’t strictly a spinoff, but rather a new series set in the same universe - not in Scranton, Pennsylvania but elsewhere in the Midwest.
According to a release from Peacock: “The documentary crew that immortalised Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters”.
President of NBCUniversal Lisa Katz said: “It’s been more than 10 years since the final episode of The Office aired on NBC, and the acclaimed comedy series continues to gain popularity and build new generations of fans on Peacock.
“In partnership with Universal Television and led by the creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling: A daily newspaper.”
And if you prefer the original United Kingdom The Office to the US version, good news - the show’s original creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are producing the new series.
John Krasinski as Jim Halpert and Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly in the US version of the workplace TV satire 'The Office'.
The American version ran on NBC for 201 episodes from 2005 to 2013, following the working lives of paper company Dunder Mifflin’s employees - from chaotic boss Michael Scott to the office oddball Dwight Schrute.
The cast and crew have opened up about fears the show would be axed due to low ratings in the book Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of ‘The Office’ by Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin on the show.
Season 1 drew less than 5 million viewers a week, while an NBC executive often visited the set to declare that whatever episode they were working on at the time would be the last.
Krasinski recalled in the book: “He was like, ‘This will be the last one … It’s just not getting the ratings and the network doesn’t get it.’ He said that every week of the first season.”
Production on the new series will begin this July and the show will premiere on Peacock in the US.
