When the rumors first began to circulate that The Office showrunner Greg Daniels was potentially going to develop a reboot of the beloved NBC mockumentary, there was a predictable uproar from fans that one of the best TV comedies of all time should be left alone. In other words, that there was no good reason to rehash a story that had more or less already been done perfectly (or mostly perfect) to begin with. I was certainly in that camp and feeling extremely trepidatious about one of my favorite shows potentially being tampered with.
Now, though, we have some better clarity around what Daniels & Co. might actually be working toward.
The worst possible idea would have been a complete do-over, which is what some people worried about — but that, thankfully, doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Daniels has tapped a group of writers that will convene for the first time this week to start hashing out ideas for a new version of The Office, one that will reportedly not be a reboot but rather a revival with all-new actors and characters.
It might sound like a minor distinction — but in a revival, for example, the entire show could take place parallel to the OG show, albeit in a different branch of Dunder Mifflin. Or it could extend the story and pick off where The Office Season 9 left off, when Dwight was put in charge of the Scranton office. According to a new report in our sister publication Deadline, Daniels also thinks that a documentary crew doing a documentary about a different subject is a possibility as a premise for the new Office show.
For me, though, the much bigger question is where such a show will exist once it finally does become reality.
Obviously, the world in which The Office could enjoy monoculture status doesn’t exactly exist anymore. The original show — that is, the original US show, which of course was a remake of the British version — straddled the appointment TV and streaming TV eras but built up its huge and loyal following before the TV landscape began to fracture into what it is today. Which is to say: I think the new show’s potential would be somewhat capped if it existed as a Peacock original, where its reach would limited by the NBC-owned streamer’s small audience.
Make it a Netflix original on the other hand, and this new version of The Office could end up being one of the streaming giant’s best sitcoms to-date. We shall see. Meanwhile, check out our 2022 interview with Brian Baumgartner (aka The Office accountant Kevin Malone) who launched a Spotify podcast that’s all about the show’s abiding fandom.
