The Office Spinoff Finds Its New Dunder Mifflin And The Choice Couldn’t Be Better
The Office helped shape an entire generation, and NBC has been trying to capture the magic of that quirky ensemble show for years. Now, we have our first details of The Office spinoff, and it sounds like it’s off to a great start. In short, the new show will focus on a dying newspaper in the Midwest and a publisher’s efforts to revive it using volunteer journalists.
The Office
The Office originally began as a British show, though general audiences are more familiar with the longer and more popular American spinoff. The American show centered on the workplace exploits of the paper company Dunder Mifflin and the zany boss (Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell) who served as the nucleus of a group of hilariously disgruntled office workers. Eventually, Carell left the show, but The Office limped on with a series of inferior managers and episodes before finally wrapping up after season nine.
The Farm
Weirdly enough, the upcoming show is NBC’s second serious attempt at creating an Office spinoff. In 2012, there was a pilot for a show with the tentative title The Farm that would focus on fan-favorite Office character Dwight Schrute and his home. NBC passed on that pilot and we haven’t gotten any new Office content (not counting those “Superfan” extended episodes on Peacock) since season nine wrapped in 2013.
The Same Universe
Now, the new Office spinoff is going to change that in a big way. This new show exists in the same universe as the original NBC show, meaning that it is a proper spinoff rather than a reboot. The conceit behind the new show is that the same documentary crew that spent nearly a decade following the exploits of the original Dunder Mifflin crew is looking for new documentary subjects when they decide to focus on the aforementioned dying newspaper.
The Cast
Being set in the same universe as NBC’s The Office nominally opens the door for cameos from the previous characters in this spinoff, though it might take some very creative writing to explain how employees from a Northeastern paper company would end up helping out a struggling Midwestern newspaper. So far, the new show seems like it will focus mostly on new characters, and we have verified the casting of Domhnall Gleeson (best known for playing General Hux in the Star Wars sequels) and Sabrina Impacciatore (best known for playing Valentina in The White Lotus).
Greg Daniels
For Office fans hoping the new show can capture the old magic, here’s some good news: the spinoff is coming to us courtesy of Greg Daniels, the former Office showrunner who turned that series into an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning show. The fact that he has returned may be enough to allay the concerns of fans worried this is just going to be a soulless cash-grab spinoff. Daniels is also working with Nathan For You co-creator Michael Koman, who will doubtlessly help the new show feel like more than a retread of the old formula.
Peacock
The new Office spinoff is being developed by Peacock, who is hoping to attract new subscribers after losing a colossal $5 billion dollars in 2022-2023 while competing with rival streamers like Netflix and Disney+. The series will begin shooting this July and does not yet have a premiere date. Therefore, only time will tell if the spinoff is good enough to warrant its own Dundie award or bad enough that it makes the fandom collectively hope their ice melts quicker so they can enjoy “second drink.”
