It is said, rumored and discussed that The Office could return. It would be in the form of a reboot, which means that it would not exactly be a direct sequel to the sitcom starring Steve Carell, although it would maintain the same concept: a gray office, a particular boss who drives everyone crazy, and absurd, uncomfortable situations. and hilarious that this combination provokes. While waiting for it to be officially announced, here are the keys to this possible resurrection.
The resurrections of popular intellectual properties are a constant in Hollywood: managers always search among those well-known titles in their catalog to obtain an economic return. But the information that indicates that The Office could have a reboot is reliable: the portal that gave the exclusive was Puck News, an exhaustive medium, which is supported by reader subscriptions and whose objective is to tell everything about the industry. show that the others do not cover.
The reboot would feature a key figure in the story of its success: Greg Daniels, who adapted Ricky Gervais' British series for the American market, reducing the execrability of the main character a little to give him a more tender patina. It is unknown exactly what role he would have: if he would once again be in charge of the project creatively or if he would settle for serving as executive producer. It should be remembered that, due to the screenwriters' strike, industry professionals have theoretically been unable to work in any way in their role as screenwriters for months.
For more details of this reboot to be known, the strike called by the Screen Actors Guild, the writers' union, which began on May 2, must first end. At the moment, the negotiations are in a good moment: the AMPTP, the studios' association, has reached an agreement in principle with the WGA.
It is estimated that, after this first fundamental step, in the coming days the working conditions and improvements for the writers will be decided, which will then have to be voted on by the union members. In October, therefore, NBCUniversal, which has the rights to The Office, could give more details about the reboot.
On March 24, 2005, The Office premiered in the United States. It soon became a success both critically and with the public, especially after its second season, when a more sympathetic tone was chosen than the reference British version. It won a total of five Emmy awards during its broadcast, which ended in May 2013, including the statuette for best television comedy (2006), the Emmy for best script (2007) and for direction (2009). ).
After a decade without airing new episodes, NBCUniversal managers have reason to be interested in reviving the format. Every time the nine seasons have appeared on a content platform, the audience has returned to them as only happens with sitcoms, becoming a valuable asset. And, unlike such successful formats as Friends or The Big Bang Theory, the most interesting thing about The Office is the format: isn't it tempting to look for a new team of workers and another boss?
In 2019 it was reported that Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming platform, was considering producing a reboot. It was even said that it could be a hybrid between a reboot and a prequel: rescuing some of the characters from the original series and adding new ones to renew the plots and attract new viewers. However, the project went nowhere with Greg Daniels being one of the people who showed little interest in its production.
It should be remembered that NBCUniversal also looked for other ways to leverage the brand at the time. Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who worked on The Office as a screenwriter, developed Parks and Recreation, another comedy in the form of a mockumentary, as a spin-off of which they had to introduce a character at Dunder Mifflin. But in the end they changed their mind and preferred to create the series with Amy Poehler as an independent comedy.
When planning the end of the series, a way was also sought to produce a spin-off with one of the most beloved characters: Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson, the most disturbing being in the entire office. He was to show how Dwight moved around his family and a pilot episode was filmed. But this was rejected and the NBC channel reused the failed pilot as another episode of the ninth season, the one titled The Farm.
