Producers of ‘The Office’ Teaming Up for Revival of Dunder Mifflin Universe Set at a ‘Dying Midwestern Newspaper’

Millennials and members of Gen Z made ‘The Office’ the most streamed television show in America during the Covid pandemic.

AP/Mary Altaffer
The cast of 'The Office' in May 2007. AP/Mary Altaffer

More than ten years since the final episode of “The Office” aired on NBC, “the universe of Dunder Mifflin” is coming back. A new version of the hit comedy will begin production in July, the company announced on Wednesday. 

While the original show was set in the sleepy town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the new series — depicted in the same mock documentary style of the original — will track “a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters,” according to the official synopsis

The project, currently untitled, is being developed by the original show’s writer and producer, Greg Daniels, alongside the co-creator of the show, “Nathan for You” co-creator Michael Koman. 

The new adaptation will star actor Domhnall Gleeson of “Star Wars” and actress Sabrina Impacciatore of “The White Lotus.” Both are executive producers, alongside Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, co-creators of “The Office’s” BBC predecessor of the same name. The new show will launch on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, and boast an “ensemble” supporting cast.

Though the last episode of “The Office” aired in 2013, the comedy’s popularity has seemingly only grown with time. That’s in part thanks to Netflix, where fans streamed the show more than any other in 2020 amid the lockdowns of Covid-19, Neilsen reports. The president of NBCUniversal Entertainment, Lisa Katz, said in a statement that “the acclaimed comedy series continues to gain popularity and build new generations of fans on Peacock.” 

Throughout its nine seasons, the show earned a whopping 42 Emmy nominations and won a total of five.

Many millennials and members of Gen Z, the oldest of whom would have been in grade school when the sitcom premiered in 2005, know all too well the romance between coworkers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, the pranks launched at their cutthroat yet clueless colleague, Dwight Shrute, and the whims of their hilariously unproductive boss, Michael Scott, whose catchphrase, “that’s what she said,” has become a 21st-century cultural cliché. The actors still can’t escape the show’s famous antics: when Mr. Shrute’s Rainn Wilson ordered room service during a hotel stay recently, he found his cutlery encased in jello

In 2021, NBCUniversal brought “The Office” home at a cost of $100 million per year for a five-year period. When the beloved sitcom departed Netflix, many Dunder Mifflin-ites shared a meme of Mr. Scott yelling “No! God! Please! No!” Now, the upcoming adaptation might inspire fans to share another one of his famed lines: “Well well well. How the turn tables.”


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