A new series set in The Office universe is now in the works, and while the reboot is exciting for fans, it is going to lose one of the show’s biggest mysteries. Despite the U.S. remake of The Office being a sitcom, the show has a surprising amount of lore, with the show hiding some dark secrets. Fans of the show know that one of these dark story beats is the reason that the show exists at all, and due to how essential it is to the series, it seems strange that The Office reboot is forgetting about it.
The Office is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, with it following iconic characters like Michael, Jim, and Pam as they work at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Throughout The Office‘s nine seasons, all kinds of stories surrounding Dunder Mifflin are told, with the show’s mockumentary format creating some unique narratives. This format is what defined the humor of The Office, with plenty of successor shows like Parks and Recreation, What We Do in the Shadows, and Abbot Elementary lifting this idea for their own use.
The Original The Office Documentary Crew Was Filming Dunder Mifflin For A Dark Reason
The Office is a mockumentary, with the in-universe reason for the format being one of the most interesting mysteries of the show. Throughout The Office, a real in-universe documentary crew is following the employees of Dunder Mifflin around, with each episode of the show being made up of recordings and interviews shot by the documentary crew. However, many fans have thought that it is off for a documentary crew to be so invested in the lives of employees of a random paper company. However, The Office has already addressed this.
As it turns out, there is a dark reason that Dunder Mifflin is being filmed in The Office. As is alluded to in the show, a former employee of Dunder Mifflin took their own life in the years before The Office timeline, with this attracting the attention of the documentary crew. The filmmakers decided to start filming at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch in order to make a documentary about how the employees are coping with the loss of their coworker, with this being the incredibly dark in-universe justification for the documentary crew’s presence.
The Office Reboot Features The Same Documentary Crew (But For A Completely Different Reason)
Some details regarding The Office reboot have been revealed, hinting at a major connection to the original show. While The Office reboot series will follow different characters at a different paper company, the in-universe documentary crew is meant to be the same people across both shows. While this is a fun way to justify another TV show set in The Office universe, the reasoning for this new storyline is completely different, ridding itself of the dark mystery from the original TV show.
This time, the documentary crew will find a Midwestern newspaper company that is struggling to survive with the times, with the series following the employees at this location. It seems that the in-universe documentary crew is trying to focus their documentary around this struggling business rather than around the fallout of a suicide, as was the case with the original The Office TV show. While it isn’t a bad thing to change this throwaway explanation, it does mean that the reboot series is losing a unique aspect of the original The Office‘s story justification.
Will The Office Reboot Give The Documentary Crew More Focus?
Although details on The Office reboot are still slim, it seems that the series may be setting up a story in which the documentary crew gets more focus, highlighting this important aspect of the original series. Although the documentary crew in The Office has a greater role in the later seasons, their impact on the show is minimal at the beginning, with the documentary mostly being used as a framing device.
However, the synopsis for The Office reboot series seems to put more emphasis on the documentary team, meaning that their journey to find a new documentary subject could be highlighted early in the show. After all, these seem to be the only returning characters from the original The Office TV show. While this story would stray away from the spirit of the original series, it would be a fun way to provide a fresh new perspective on the world of The Office.
