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TV Show: The Office to end after Season 9
Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 18,654
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The Office to end after Season 9
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NBC's The Office will end after the upcoming ninth season, it was announced on a conference call to reporters on Tuesday.
Executive producer Greg Daniels will return as showrunner for the final year -- taking over from Paul Lieberstein, who is prepping a potential spinoff. Daniels ran the show, still NBC's highest-rated scripted series, for the first five seasons.
"As we head into the home stretch, we have a lot of exciting things I've been wanting to do since season two," Daniel told reporters. "The end should be pretty cool."
Daniels, who was on-set during the call, called it the "last chance" for the crew "to go out" the way he had envisioned, noting that "familiar faces [will be] coming back" as well as welcoming new cast members including Jake Lacy and Clark Duke for what may be an "emotional" ending for some.
"At some point you have a choice: to always tell the beginnings of stories and the middles or to allow a story to end and I think endings can be very powerful and meaningful pieces of the story," said Daniels, who shared that NBC Entertainment president Bob Greenblatt was supportive of the season nine plan to bring the series to its end. "If we didn't let it end this year, I don't know if we would have been able to tell the endings for so many characters that I really want to know the endings for."
The end of The Office means a big turning point for NBC as it looks to revamp its scripted lineup. The network is betting big on freshman comedies, picking up seven to series and giving condensed orders for returning half-hours like Community and 30 Rock, which will also come to an end this season. (The Office and Parks and Recreation were the only shows to receive 22-episode pickups.) "They may also be crying over lost advertising," Daniels joked, acknowledging the value The Office has to the network. "Hopefully they'll have other things that are working by the end of the year."
The final season will be different from recent seasons, Daniels said, in that it will focus on arcs rather than episodic comedy as had been the case more recently.
"The real heart of the show are these arcs that allow these characters to have ongoing stories. It's all going to be set up in the premiere," he told reporters. "There's so much to pay off from nine seasons, so many great characters that my biggest concern is just tacking in these great ideas that the writing staff has on the walls and making sure we hit all of them or at least squeeze as many into the ending."
Daniels expressed hope that he would be able to keep big moments top-secret, for the most part. In the era of the Internet and spoilers, he acknowledged that it may well be impossible: "I would like to try to get back to the world where the world is surprised" by the story instead of reading about it three weeks before, he said.
Although most of the main cast of characters will remain on the show, though some (B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling) in diminished capacities, "there are so many story lines to follow now, so many endings to write for different characters, risky things we wouldn't normally do if we knew we were going for a long time," Daniels said. "Now that we have an end date, we can blow up things and take some chances. It's very freeing and creatively ecxiting for the audience."
Some of those chances include upcoming story lines like Nellie (Catherine Tate) holding a charity drive at the office and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) donating to the Taliban in retaliation and that the identities of the documentary crew will be a big part of season nine. "All questions will be answered this year. We'll see who's behind the documentary and we'll meet some of them," said Daniels.
To bring it full circle, Daniels hopes that Ken Kwapis, who directed the pilot, will helm the final episode.
Does this mean that Steve Carell would return for a swan song as Michael Scott? "We'll see," Daniels said of the idea to bring the star back to the series that helped launch his career. "We have ideas for the ending and obviously if he would participate, we would have a lot of good times. The idea will fly without him if he can't make it. He is pretty busy."
The news to end the series comes after Universal Television, one of the studios behind The Office, locked up former EP/current Parks & Rec showrunner Michael Schur in a new two-year overal deal that will see the Emmy winner develop additional projects for the studio.
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Member Since: 1/12/2011
Posts: 2,793
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Good. I have been watching this show religiously since it debuted yet probably only caught like 5 or 10 episodes this season. I need to catch up.
I hope they end it well and not do something sappy.
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Member Since: 3/27/2009
Posts: 30,284
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Yeah, I kind of figured this would be the last considering Dwight's spin-off, Kelly's new show on FOX, and still the absence of Steve. As much as I love 'The Office' with or without Steve, it never really seemed to rebound once he departed, so instead of draining the show dry, ending it was the best option.
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Member Since: 9/26/2011
Posts: 974
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This is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I have watched it since it began, but it is definitely time for this to end. I would love if Michael Scott and Holly came back for the last couple of episodes to really finish it off right.
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Member Since: 6/16/2010
Posts: 19,686
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Nooooooooooooooooooo!
The Office is my happy place. If they run on with the Dwight spin off I will remain happy. But Jim & Dwight are comedy gold, the best duo since Turk and JD.
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Member Since: 6/16/2010
Posts: 19,686
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Quote:
Originally posted by MarryTheDark
This is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I have watched it since it began, but it is definitely time for this to end. I would love if Michael Scott and Holly came back for the last couple of episodes to really finish it off right.
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i completely agree, I need to see Michael with the kids he so craved and I need Dwight and Angela to end up together.
I feel like Jim and Pam have kind of had their ending so I don't want them to rock the boat. I think there will be high emotions between Jim and Dwight who ultimatley love eachother. I really want that rumored spin off though. And I've never though about the docu-crew, I wander where that will take us.
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Member Since: 6/16/2010
Posts: 19,686
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hooligan
Yeah, I kind of figured this would be the last considering Dwight's spin-off, Kelly's new show on FOX, and still the absence of Steve. As much as I love 'The Office' with or without Steve, it never really seemed to rebound once he departed, so instead of draining the show dry, ending it was the best option.
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Ed Helms has done well though, he just isn't as comedically awkward as Steve.
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Member Since: 6/6/2011
Posts: 29,899
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It was a good run and a great tv show 
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Member Since: 6/16/2010
Posts: 19,686
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OMGGGGG
It looks like Brayn Cranston (Walter from Breaking Bad) is guest starring in the next seasons...looks like he might me part of the documentary crew.
BRB, losing my mind.
NEVERMIND: It appears he is directing an episode..at least that is what people are speculating.
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Member Since: 1/31/2012
Posts: 19,942
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My favorite show, it's gonna be SOOOOOOO hard to let go of it 
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Member Since: 7/22/2012
Posts: 18,064
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I think it's for the best though it's been one my favorite show since the beginning and own all the seasons up to 7 but tbh i just stopped watching it it got a little eh.
I still got the Amazing Parks And Recreation so i'm not that upset!
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 11/16/2004
Posts: 28,450
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It's time for it to end. Hopefully Steve Carell comes back for the finale
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Member Since: 3/15/2011
Posts: 12,111
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I think it's time. It's had an amazing run.
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