NBC In Talks To Revive ‘The Office’ Without Steve Carell

NBC is in early talks to revive hit show The Office.

NBC IN TALKS FOR THE OFFICE REVIVAL

Original star Steve Carell would not be involved in the new installment, though the plot would still follow the officemates at Dunder-Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The original series ran from 2005 to 2013, and starred Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Craig Robinson, Mindy Kaling, and Ellie Kemper, among others. In total, The Office received 42 Emmy nominations during its run, and took home five.

Following the success of the Will & Grace revival, NBC has reason to relaunch other shows. The new season of the Debra Messing–Eric McCormack gay comedy was one of the network’s highest-rated shows this season, and was even renewed for a second revival season before the first ended.

In November, however, Fischer expressed doubt that a revival of The Office would ever happen. “I don’t think it’ll ever happen,” she said. “I would do it if there was some circumstance where everybody got back together, and could be brought back together in some amazing way, I would say yes. But I’m not sure it’s realistic,” the actress explained.

“The characters, they had arcs. They had growth. Jim and Pam left Dunder-Mifflin. Michael left Dunder-Mifflin. And it would be hard to manufacture why all the people were back working together. And I’m not sure the show works if we’re all in different locations. … I immediately start thinking, how did Jim and Pam get back from Austin? And Michael’s living with Holly now. It would almost have to be a scenario where it’s ‘the lost tapes of The Office,’ where you somehow go back in time and there’s all of these lost stories where we weirdly look 5 years older.”

Sources in August told The Hollywood Reporter that The Office could come back with a new cast and original creator Greg Daniels attached. At that time, NBC and producers Universal Television said there was no truth to the rumors. Now, however, speculation has grown more and more, and the network is said to be in talks for a revival. A spokesperson for NBC has not commented.