Those who have had the stomach to sit through the post-departure of Steve Carell from The Office know that the show hasn’t had the same excitement and originality it had when he was attached. Since Helms and newcomer James Spader have taken the lead in the show, it’s become less about the boss and more about the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
That’s probably why NBC is contemplating taking the show’s standout character, Dwight Shrute, and giving him his own spin-off, a la NBC’s move with Friends and Joey. We all remember how that ended. THR has the scoop.
Reports of NBC eyeing a potential spin-off centered around Rainn Wilson’s quirky Dwight Schrute character are indeed true, according to a well-placed source. The idea would be to further explore the Shrute family farm, with multiple generations of Schrutes involved. The comedy concept could get a test of sorts on an episode of The Office later this season.
Wilson, along with actor/showrunner Paul Lieberstein and executive producer Ben Silverman, are believed to be involved, with Greg Daniels sitting out this iteration as he’s devoted to too many other projects at the network. Among them: his adaptation of British series Friday Night Dinner, whichgot a pilot order from NBC earlier this week.
We expect to get a bit more insight as pilot season continues and The Office’s ratings continue to slip off of NBC’s radar.
