The days of Michael Scott serving as the boss of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company’s Scranton branch are long over, but The Office continues to expand its franchise with more spinoffs. The next one will imagine office life in Australia, and a sneak peek has been reavealed by way of a new trailer.
Shared by Prime Video ahead of the show’s Oct. 18 premiere, the trailer introduces Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, marking the first time a female actor has led an Office series. Hannah works as the managing director of a packaging company that’s not so different from Dunder Mifflin, as she’s even joined by several characters who may feel reminiscent of those from the well-known UK and United States versions of The Office. The trailer, posted to YouTube, can be watched below.
Unfortunately, the fan response wasn’t exactly stellar. One top comment on the YouTube video that’s been liked thousands of times noted, “Dear Prime. It’s not too late to delete this.” One person added, “I can already tell this is going to get canceled after the first season.” Someone else said, “If this is the best you got for the trailer the show is doomed.”
If this is the best you got for the trailer the show is doomed.
Another popular comment stated, “I have been confined to a wheelchair for the past 20 years today I stood up and walked just to turn this off.”
“I’m not sure what the motivation for this,” as another person put it. “Was there a meeting at Prime where they said ‘We need to do our own version of a 20 year old show, remove everything that made the original funny, replace the funny bits with stuff that really isn’t funny, have cartoon characters as the cast, and then cut the worst trailer possible for it’?”
The Office Has Had Many International Adaptations
There have been many international adaptations of The Office made in the past. It was originally created in the UK by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, though Greg Daniels brought the brand to greater heights with the immense success of the American version. The seris also has had adaptations made in other locations like Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Poland, Saudia Arabia, and Sweden.
The official logline for the Australian version reads, “Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Fliney Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.”
Along with Howard, other cast members include Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade, Lucy Schmidt, Zoe Terakes, Pallavi Sharda, and Claude Jabbour.
