The Office‘s reboot confirmation prompts a surprisingly optimistic response from the show’s co-creator, Stephen Merchant. Co-created by Ricky Gervais, the UK version of The Office first aired in 2001, with Greg Daniels’ American version subsequently hitting NBC in 2005. The American version of the show became a sitcom sensation, and it was recently confirmed that a reboot is now officially on the way at Peacock. The reboot will follow workers at a failing Midwestern newspaper, with Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore starring.
Following confirmation of Peacock’s The Office reboot, Merchant now shares his thoughts regarding the new series during a recent interview with Deadline.
While Merchant, who will serve as an executive producer on the series, seemingly doesn’t have any information on the reboot beyond what has been officially revealed, he expresses excitement about the project. Check out his optimistic comments below:
“They just make us sign bits of paperwork to say they can do it and I’m looking forward to it. I like the idea … that it’s within the universe of The Office, but not necessarily in the same office. I just hope they represent what office life must be like now. I guess the whole show will just be on Zoom and people only come in like twice a week.”
Stephen Merchant Raises An Interesting Point About The Office Reboot
Office Life Is Totally Different Now
While The Office has since found success with an entirely new generation due to the rise of streaming, one of the reasons why it became so popular in the first place was because it felt familiar. The series explored what it meant to work in an office, and it depicted various types of coworker relationships that viewers would be able to understand and relate to. The Office worked in part, then, because of how it put a funny spin on something that many viewers were familiar with.
The reboot will be chronicling a new workplace at a different time in history, making it unclear just how many ingredients the upcoming show will have in common with its predecessor.
The upcoming reboot will have the challenging job of feeling like a reflection of workplace life to a new generation. Due to larger trends across a variety of industries and the impact of COVID, work life now looks very different compared to how it looked 20 years ago. As Merchant suggests, there has been a rise in working from home and meetings conducted over Zoom instead of in person. Some of these changes could mean a different feel and tone to the reboot’s comedy.
The Office‘s cast was confined to the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin throughout most of the show, and it was this environment that lead to many of the show’s funniest moments. The reboot will be chronicling a new workplace at a different time in history, making it unclear just how many ingredients the upcoming show will have in common with its predecessor. It remains to be seen how The Office reboot fares with audiences, but it could end up feeling quite different.
