The Office, the US mockumentary that ran for nine seasons between 2005 and 2013, is getting a spin-off. According to Peacock, which has commissioned the show, the new show will take place in the same universe as The Office and retain the mockumentary format, but it'll tell a new story with a new cast.
This time around the show will take place not in a paper company but in a dying newspaper in the Midwest, where the publisher is attempting to revive it with a crew of volunteer reporters. According to NBC Universal Entertainment president Lisa Katz (via Hollywood Reporter), "this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling".
Co-created by The Office's Greg Daniels and the co-creator of Nathan for You, Michael Koman, the show will feature Domhnall Gleeson (Ex-Machina) and Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus) and begin filming in July.
Could an Office spin-off be successful?
The US version of The Office was already not the original: initially based on the UK sitcom of the same name, it soon became its own – and arguably better – show as it left its UK parent behind. Where the UK version only ran for 12 episodes and a holiday special, the US version racked up 201 episodes – although it didn't maintain the quality throughout, and the final seasons weren't up there with the better, earlier ones. There's some debate as to whether the show started to decline after season four or if it wasn't until Steve Carell left after eight seasons, but the quality had definitely dropped by the final episodes. So starting in a new place with new characters seems like a wise move.
As a fan of the show, I'm hopeful about a new season, but I'm also very aware that in the 23 years since the first UK Office episode aired and the decade since the US Office closed, the mockumentary format has been done to death – sometimes well, as in What We Do in the Shadows, but often less effectively or hilariously.
The Ringer was describing the rise and fall of the mockumentary sitcom back in 2020, arguing that the format was "built on a technological stopgap: portable, budget-friendly equipment that democratized filming – though not nearly as much as smartphones and social media eventually would. The intentionally janky look of the American Office, once jarring in the appearance-conscious context of broadcast TV, no longer squares with a time when TikTok has taught a generation of teens the fundamentals of editing and post-production." What was once unusual and innovative feels rather tired today because we've seen it so many times.
That said, what made the US show so good wasn't the format but the writing, particularly around Steve Carell's needy Michael Scott, Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute, John Krasinski's Jim Halpert and Jenna Fischer's Pam Beesly. Here's hoping the new show introduces us to similarly compelling characters.
The new Office spin-off will begin filming this summer.
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