With progress in the writers strike, rumors from Puck News state that a reboot of The Office will soon be in the works. The Office, starring Steve Carrell (Despicable Me), ran from 2005-2013 over nine seasons and was widely successful with nine out of ten stars over 667,829 reviews on IMDb. Via Comicbook, “Not only would a new take on the concept be on the horizon, but the outlet claims that Greg Daniels, one of the co-creators to adapt the British sitcom, would be returning to the franchise to be involved in the project.”
To many’s surprise, the original series ran for six-episode seasons and two Christmas Special episodes on the BBC, making the American version on NBC a reboot. According to Comicbook, “The impact of the American series, largely due to amassing 200 episodes, is arguably stronger than the original program…” The premise of the popular mockumentary style sitcom focuses on the work lives of employees at a paper company in Pennsylvania, called Dunder Mifflin. At Dunder Mifflin, the branch manager, Michael Scott, played by Carrell, is a quirky and immature boss who frequently leads the office into comedic mayhem. Alongside Carrell is Rainn Wilson (The Meg) who plays Dwight Schrute, John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) as Jim Halpert, Ed Helms (The Hangover) as Andy Bernard, Brian Baumgarterner (Trash Truck) as Kevin Malone, Ellie Kemper (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Erin Hannon, and many others who bring the show to life. Talk of The Office making a comeback has been teased publicly many times, with reports claiming a spinoff was more likely than a reboot. A spinoff is a new series based on an existing one that focuses on different storylines or characters, while a reboot is a new version of an existing series, re-telling the story in a new way with the same characters played by different actors.
Via Comicbook, “Even the ambiguity of this reboot, for example, means it’s possible that whatever Daniels might potentially be working on isn’t necessarily a remake of the original premise, but could be a new series focusing on any of the original characters.” Specific news of what a reboot of The Office could entail has not been announced, but with a tentative deal met with the WGA and AMPTP, television is expected to soon be making movement.