Steve Carell Promises Not to Revive Michael Scott for the ‘Office’ Spin-off

When Greg Daniels returns to the Office universe with a sequel series for Peacock, he’ll be doing it without the World’s Best Boss.

In 2011, Steve Carell made the difficult decision to leave his most celebrated role playing Michael Scott on the American version of The Office in the show’s seventh season after bringing innumerable classic quotes to the future Hinge profiles of Millennials across the country. Immediately following Carell’s departure, the beloved NBC sitcom embarked on a steep nosedive as the remaining writers and cast members struggled and, ultimately, failed to find the show’s identity at a post-Michael Dunder Mifflin. 

During the original run, making The Office watchable after losing Steve Carell was an impossible task, but, as Daniels, his co-creator Michael Koman get ready to expand the Office franchise with a new mockumentary series set at a struggling Midwestern newspaper, they’ll be starting from scratch sans Carell.

During an interview at the premiere of his old co-star John Krasinski’s children’s film IF, in which Carell plays the role of Blue, the former regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton set the record straight on fan speculation that Daniels would rope him into one last ride behind the desk, telling The Hollywood Reporter of the sequel, “I will be watching, but I will not be showing up.” 

That’s what she said.

“That is off the cards,” Carell said of a possible reprisal in the new Office series, saying of Daniels’ sequel project, “I think it’s just a new thing, and there’s really no reason for my character to show up in something like that.” He added, “But I’m excited about it! It sounds like a great conceit, I love the idea. … I worked with Domhnall Gleeson, who is one of the leads; I did The Patient with him. He’s an excellent actor and a super nice guy, so I think it’ll be great.”

Honestly, it’s refreshing to hear that, as opposed to most decade-plus after-the-fact sitcom sequels, Daniels and his new Office crew aren’t clinging to nostalgia and name recognition to get the new show off the ground. Michael Scott’s send-off was too happy of an ending to ever spoil it with a hackneyed plot line about him and his family uprooting their lives in Colorado to come host whatever the Midwestern newspaper’s equivalent of the Dundies will be, and, with his cameo in the original Office (U.S.) finale, Carell already delivered the contractually obligated amount of fan service for the Office-heads who were still watching.

It is hilarious, however, that the only diegetic link between the original Office (U.S.) and the new Office (U.S.) will be the documentary crew. It’s not clear if the in-universe camera operators of new series will be the same off-screen characters who spent a decade filming paper salesmen as they hold funerals for birds, but Gleeson’s character would be wise to keep his obligatory will-they-or-won’t-they partner far away from the boom mic.