'The Office' reboot may happen sooner than we thought

It’s been less than 10 years since fans said goodbye to the workers of Scranton’s Dunder Mifflin, but it appears that we may already be closing in on a potential reboot of The Office. A revival of the beloved sitcom has been rumoured for years, with many of the show’s leads, including John Krasinski, saying they would be on board to return. Now it appears that the only thing holding up the next instalment of the Dundies is showrunner Greg Daniels. 

Deadline is reporting that NBCU content chief Susan Rovner confirmed that a reboot is ready to be greenlit as soon as the company receives approval from Daniels. “Whenever Greg Daniels wants to do one, we’re standing by,” said Rovner earlier this week while attending the Edinburgh International TV Festival. What that reboot would look like and whether it would include original cast members or a new set of office workers has yet to be announced. 

Daniels famously adapted The Office from show creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who wrote and starred in the original UK series. As noted by Deadline, Daniels commented on the possibility of a reboot earlier this year when he told Collider “It’s not impossible for sure. I would want to be involved, and I’ve got two other shows I’m working on right now.” Daniels is currently working on the second seasons of Amazon Prime’s Upload and the Netflix series Space Force, which stars The Office’s Steve Carell. 

Fervor for all things The Office has intensified since the show ended in 2013. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey have launched a successful rewatch podcast titled Office Ladies. Co-star Brian Baumgartner has also gotten into the podcast game with an oral history of The Office, which the actor is now turning into a book (Fischer and Kinsey are also set to share their personal stories from the set of the show in an upcoming book). After The Office became available on Netflix, a new generation of young fans have discovered the series, leading to unprecedented streaming numbers.

Love for The Office is undeniable among its devoted fan base, but are viewers ready to once again feel God in this Chili’s tonight? As noted by several fans, many of the show’s most famous episodes would likely not be allowed to air in 2021.

There’s also plenty of discussion about which, if any, characters would return.

While there hasn’t been much to laugh about in the past 18 months, seeing the workers of Dunder Mifflin handle the pandemic would have given the show an entire season of content.

Then there’s the issue of whether we need yet another reboot. In some ways, it appears NBC knows exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, none of us have any idea what to do.