NBC’s spinoff of The Office finally has an official title. The long-awaited continuation of the fan-favorite NBC comedy has been in the works for a while. What we do know is that Greg Daniels returns as showrunner and executive producer alongside Nathan For You‘s Michael Koman, and Domhnall Gleeson (About Time, Ex-Machina) and Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus) headline the cast. NBC has helped fill in the blanks, confirming the spinoff’s title to be The Paper as well as revealing an official first look image of its cast. The image includes a returning cast member from The Office.
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The announcements for The Paper were made during NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation on Monday, with Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore joined on stage by Oscar Nuñez, who returns to reprise his role of Oscar Martinez from The Office. The first image from The Paper comes from the show’s pilot and features Gleeson’s character standing on a table while speaking to his coworkers. Oscar can be seen in the background of the image. The Paper features the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch in The Office. The crew is in search of a new subject when they discover a historic Toledo newspaper, The Truth Teller, and the eager publisher (Domhnall Gleeson) that is trying to revive it.
Nuñez revealed that he spoke with Greg Daniels and suggested that after The Office ended, Oscar would have moved to a more cosmopolitan area instead of remaining in Scranton.
“Greg heard me and moved Oscar to Toledo, Ohio, which has three times the population of Scranton,” Nuñez said. “So it’s nice to be heard.”
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“It’s about this struggling Midwestern newspaper that’s much reduced from its glory days. A lot of the story lines are about how this guy, Domhnall Gleeson’s character, is trying to restore this paper, and he just doesn’t have the budget for hiring reporters, and he has to use all the staff that work there on a volunteer basis to be reporters. They’re completely untrained and don’t know what they’re doing,” Daniels told THR when speaking about an Office oral history. “It’s a fruitful premise. There’s a tremendous history for local papers. The villain here is the internet and the ability to look at everybody’s news for free, and all the ad revenue going to Google.”
While Oscar Nuñez sounds excited about returning for The Paper, The Office original star Steve Carell has said that he will be watching the spinoff, but don’t expect to see him show up for any special guest appearances.
“I will be watching but I will not be showing up,” Carell told THR at the premiere of his new movie, IF (directed by The Office co-star John Krasinski). “It’s just a new thing and there’s really no reason for my character to show up in something like that.”
“But I’m excited about it, it sounds like a great conceit,” he added. “I love the idea — I guess it’s set in a failing newspaper company. And I worked with Domhnall Gleeson, who is one of the leads, I did The Patient with him and he’s an excellent actor and a super nice guy so I think it’ll be great.”
The Paper also stars Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, and Tim Key. Duane Shepard Sr., Allan Havey, Nate Jackson, Mo Welch, Nancy Lenehan, Molly Ephraim, and Tracy Letts will have guest roles. The series debuts in September on NBC.
What do you think about The Paper as a name for The Office spinoff? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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