What The Office's Showrunner Really Thinks Of A Reboot
It's been nearly a decade since television viewers said goodbye to "The Office," a show that still gets quoted and talked about around the water cooler as if it were on NBC today. But what about that reboot – the one that's so far been relegated to the island of wishful thinking?
Since the show's finale, there have been constant rumors and reports of a possible new series coming out under "The Office" banner. An NBC exec even confirmed such plans (sort of) in 2019, telling Deadline: "It is my hope and goal that we do an Office reboot." However, at this point, it's not even clear who would star or helm the series. One thing is for certain, though — former showrunner Greg Daniels has some strong opinions about it.
"When people hear 'reboot' they think it's the exact same show," explained Daniels in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't think that would work," he said. Asked what NBC would have to change in order for the series to sell and be successful, the "King of the Hill” and "Parks and Recreation" co-creator had some interesting answers.
Greg Daniels doesn't think The Office would work in today's social climate
If Greg Daniels got the chance to pitch another "Office" or perhaps even an updated version of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) for Peacock or NBC, he ultimately would have to change the entire character and show entirely — or just not do it at all.
"The content was very much pitched for that period of time, when people weren't as sensitive to what is giving offense to people so that you could have a boss who kept putting his foot in it," Daniels told THR. "I don't think you would [pitch Michael Scott today]." Instead, Daniels prefers "the documentary format" and telling a story through "a documentarian's perspective" rather than a full-on reboot. "I wouldn't try to redo it," he said.
During its run on NBC from 2005 to 2013, "The Office" taught people lessons on how not to act in a workplace, according to Daniels. "You could feel that the content was sort of helping people see things as being offensive that they might not have seen as offensive before, because they were just used to it," he told THR. "Now, everybody's much more aware of how offensive certain things are."
In the end, if there ever is a reboot of "The Office," it doesn't look like it'll be anything similar to Daniels' beloved sitcom.