One of the most recognisable stars of the US Office has claimed that its scrapped spin-off about his character would have made ‘another billion dollars’.
Rainn Wilson, 59, is best known for his portrayal of Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office, and he very nearly had his own spin-off show called The Farm in 2013.
He recently opened up about the scrapped show following the release of The Paper on September 4, a new spin-off set in the same universe as The Office.
Speaking on The Last Laugh podcast, he said: ‘NBC at that time had a new regime that came in and they wanted to do big, bright, flashy, splashy shows that were multi-cams and going back to kind of thing.
‘And they were just not interested at all in spinoffs at the time. Had they taken The Farm, they’d probably have another billion dollars in the bank.’
While the full series never materialised, an episode of The Office with the same title was aired in 2013 and was designed to act as its pilot.
One of the most recognisable stars of the US Office has claimed that its scrapped spin-off about his character would have made ‘another billion dollars’ (Rainn WIlson as Dwight Schrute)
Rainn Wilson, 59, is best known for his portrayal of Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office, and he very nearly had his own spin-off show called The Farm in 2013
However, it had a negative critical reception and was described as a ‘Frankenstein episode’ by critics.
The actor went on to speculate that while he believes the spin-off would not be as good as the original, it would still be a ‘solid’ piece of comedy.
He added: ‘Even now, all the people that have seen The Office 20 times, they’re going to watch at least once or twice.
‘Would it have been as good as The Office? No. No way. Not even close.
‘Would it have been good? Would it have been solid? Would it have been a good solid comedy?
‘Yeah, it would have, and we would’ve done some really cool stuff. And I think they really missed out.’
Wilson continued: ‘But the history of The Office in NBC is – they never really got the show.
‘Honestly, it was like five years after the show was over, when all of a sudden it started being watched in the billions of minutes on Netflix, that NBC was like, wait a minute, this is kind of a cash cow. This is actually a really good show and it’s got some legs.’
But fans of The Office were quick to complain about the existence of The Paper – claiming that there was no need to make a spin-off.
Fans of The Office were quick to complain about the existence of The Paper – claiming that there was no need to make a spin-off show
Wilson, pictured in the US iteration of The Office, claimed NBC scrapped his character’s spin-off because they had a ‘regime’ that prioritised ‘flashy’ shows
The Paper, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore, is a new mockumentary.
The Office fan favourite actor Oscar Nunez has also been re-cast in the show, adding to the nostalgia element, with the network revealing the same documentary crew that filmed Dundler Mifflin’s Scranton branch will be used.
Taking to social media, one fan vented: ‘EWWWWWWW WE DONT WANT IT.’
‘This is a horrible idea,’ another said.
A third pointed out: ‘This series launched in 2001. We gotta let things end and showcase new ideas.’
‘We really need this?’ asked a fourth.
A fifth simply wrote: ‘They can’t outdo the doer.’
Instead of selling paper like the Dunder Mifflin crew in The Office, The Paper centres around a newspaper staff.
The American version of The Office was based on the classic UK series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
