Steve Carell “will not be showing up” for The Office’s follow-up series.
The 61-year-old actor starred as the quirky boss Michael Scott in the beloved sitcom from 2005 before exiting the program in 2011, and has now revealed he has no plans to make any appearances in the upcoming spin-off show because his character has “no reason” to.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: “I will be watching but I will not be showing up. It’s just a new thing and there’s really no reason for my character to show up in something like that.”
The new Peacock program, which is being written by The Office mastermind Greg Daniels, has already cast Star Wars actor Domhnall Gleeson and The White Lotus star Sabrina Impacciatore, and will follow the everyday struggles of a Midwestern newspaper company.
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Although he won’t be joining the cast, Steve emphasized he had full-faith in Domhnall, with whom he had worked with on the 2022 series The Patient, and described him as an “excellent actor.”
He explained: “I’m excited about it, it sounds like a great concept.”
“I love the idea — I guess it’s set in a failing newspaper company, and I worked with Domhnall Gleeson, who is one of the leads; I did The Patient with him and he’s an excellent actor and a super nice guy so I think it’ll be great.”
The Evan Almighty star is currently having his own reunion for the fan-favorite mockumentary through his new movie IF, which was written and directed by his The Office co-star John Krasinski.
Reflecting on his friend, Carell heaped praise onto John and said it was “just a joy” to be working with him again.
He gushed: “He directed some episodes of The Office so I was familiar with him as a director and he’s a great director — he’s very thorough, he’s smart and he knows how to work with actors because he is one.”
“It was just a joy from beginning to end and I jumped at the chance to work with him again, partly just to be with him. He’s a good friend and I hadn’t seen him in a while so it was nice to catch up.”
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Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky