It’s been six years since we last heard from the team at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch but they could return to our TV screens as a reboot ofThe Officeinches closer to becoming a possibility. The original U.S. version ofThe Office, which starredSteve Carelland effectively launched the careers of supporting cast includingJohn Krasinski,Mindy Kaling,Jenna Fischer, andEd Helms, aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013. NBCUniversal recently announced all episodes ofThe Officewould leave Netflix in 2021and be available exclusively on their streaming service, Peacock.
Now, in the latest wave of news about Peacock, it would appear sights are set on making a reboot of the series happen, too. NBCUniversal Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and Digital EnterprisesBonnie Hammerremarked toDeadline, “It is my hope and goal that we do anOfficereboot.”
Although Hammer didn’t go into specifics about what a reboot ofThe Officelooks like at this point (and that’s totally fair considering it’s still very much in the nascent stage, if that), she did note, “The Officecomes back to us in January 2021. It is my hope that we can figure what that great reboot would be,” and concluded with, “We are having conversations.”
As a longtime fan ofThe Officewho’s cautiously optimistic about a reboot, I’m extremely curious to see if and how this takes shape. Would original series showrunnerMike Schur, who already has a solid working relationship with NBC through his hit showsThe Good Place,Parks & Recreation, and nowBrooklyn Nine-Nine, oversee a reboot? Would any of the original cast get involved? If so, who are we talking about because it’s unlikely the bigger names — Carell, Krasinski, Kaling, Helms — would return but does that mean we’d have to rule out strong supporting cast likeRainn WilsonandAngela Kinsey, too? Would any original cast be involved at all or do you just wipe the entire slate clean and retain the “documentary crew films daily life in an average American workplace” scenario but implement an entirely new cast of characters?
It’s huge that we’ve even gotten to this stage in the “WillThe Officeget a reboot?” conversation. Jokes about this show returning have been a thing for some time, especially in the recent boom of popular shows of varying ages getting pegged for the reboot treatment. But Hammer actually voicing that making a reboot happen is “a goal” is a new development that we should take seriously.
