The Office: 10 Characters We’d Like to See Return for Peacock’s Spinoff
Polish those Dundies and brush off the “that’s what she said” jokes, because we’re heading back to the world of The Office.
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In May, Peacock ordered to series a new, as-yet-untitled comedy that will be set in the same universe as The Office, which ran for nine seasons on NBC and followed the employees at paper supply company Dunder Mifflin. According to the spinoff’s logline, “the intrepid, tireless documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper, and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters.”
Thus far, the aforementioned documentarians (who we never really saw in The Office, save for boom mic operator Brian) are the only original Office characters slated to return for the offshoot. And Steve Carell, who led the mothership as Scranton’s bumbling regional manager Michael Scott, has already said he won’t appear in the new episodes. But if the Peacock spinoff were to welcome back some familiar faces, we know which ones we’d most like to see.
Of course, we’d be delighted to see any OG characters pop up on the forthcoming series; our wish list isn’t limited to the 10 names below. But considering the spinoff takes place in the Midwest, and not northeastern Pennsylvania, we factored in not only the characters we’d want to see, but the ones who could feasibly show up on a series so removed from The Office‘s original setting.
Scroll down for all of the character returns we’re hoping to get on Peacock’s spinoff, then drop a comment with your own!
Jim and Pam Halpert
We’ll start with the longest shots: Jim and Pam. Having moved to Austin, Texas, in The Office‘s series finale, we can’t imagine what would put these lovebirds in the orbit of a Midwestern newspaper — unless, of course, Athleap has really scaled up over the years! Plus, logistically speaking, we assume breakout filmmaker John Krasinski would be a tough get, even for a cameo. But to revisit the Office-verse and not even give us a glimpse at its most iconic couple, however brief? In the words of Kevin Malone: What a waste. What. A. Waste.
Dwight and Angela Schrute
In The Office‘s final episodes, Dwight finally achieved his dream of becoming Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s regional manager — but we have to assume that the forever-struggling paper supply company is no more in the year 2024. Of all the Office characters that might have realistically started a new life chapter in the Midwest, Dwight and Angela seem like solid candidates; imagine how Schrute Farms could expand out there!
Erin Hannon
Ellie Kemper’s sunny Dunder Mifflin receptionist was one of The Office‘s best late-game additions, and we’d only scratched the surface of her lovably naive personality by the time the series ended. And hey, in Season 9, she showed at least a passing interest in journalism (via the newscaster “audition” that Clark tried to set up); maybe in her post-reception career, she can briefly pop up as one of the spinoff’s volunteer reporters. Bonus points if Pete comes along!
Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor
These two toxic exes abruptly rekindled things and ran off together in The Office‘s swan song, leaving us to wonder, for more than a decade, how long their twisted romance lasted this time. Five minutes? Forever? Equally possible outcomes! And Ryan did previously follow Kelly to Miami, Ohio, once upon a time; maybe it’s not so outlandish that we’d see this pair pop up on Peacock’s offshoot.
Creed Bratton
Honestly, we’d just really like an update on Creed’s whereabouts after all these years. Is he still in jail, having been arrested in The Office‘s series finale? Is he on the run? Leading another cult? Blogging to his heart’s content? We simply must know. Even a headline about Creed in the spinoff’s central newspaper will do (though we’d be even happier to see him pop up on screen).
Toby Flenderson
Similarly, we’ve gotta know how life ultimately shook out for perpetual sad sack Toby after he was fired from Dunder Mifflin in the series finale. Maybe those Chad Flenderman mystery novels actually took off, and he’s got moderate nationwide fame! (Well, he can dream.)
Jan Levinson
After her relationship with Michael Scott imploded, Jan popped up when you least expected it throughout the rest of The Office‘s run, and it was always a pleasant and hilarious surprise. Last we saw her, she was an executive at the White Pages; between that gig and her years at Dunder Mifflin’s corporate offices, Jan might be The Office‘s most paper-savvy character. It’s just good sense that she show up somehow on this newspaper-focused series.
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