EXCLUSIVE: The long-awaited enlargement of The Workplace universe seems to be getting nearer to changing into a actuality.
Greg Daniels, who tailored NBC‘s The Workplace for American audiences primarily based on the hit BBC collection of the identical identify from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Service provider, is establishing a growth room together with his trusted writers, sources inform Deadline. It’s set to start work on Tuesday to discover concepts for a follow-up collection.
The potential new collection, which isn’t a reboot, would probably be set in a brand new workplace with new characters however stay inside the identical world because the Steve Carell-led mockumentary collection which follows workers on the Scranton, Pennsylvania, department of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Firm.
A documentary crew doing a documentary a few totally different topic is a risk as a premise for a attainable Workplace universe extension, Daniels has stated.
NBCU prime executives have acknowledged many occasions that they might be considering a brand new incarnation of The Workplace if Daniels has a take. That is no shock given what a success his collection for NBC was and the lifetime of its personal it’s taken on in syndication and particularly in streaming.
The Workplace premiered in 2005 with an ensemble solid that features Carrell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, B.J. Novak, Jenna Fischer, Mindy Kaling, Leslie David Baker, Melora Hardin, Kate Flannery, Brian Baumgartner, Ed Helms, Oscar Nuñez and Craig Robinson. The present ran for 9 seasons earlier than concluding in 2013, with James Spader taking on as lead following Carell’s departure in Season 7.
Conversations about persevering with the collection have been floating round almost for the reason that present ended. Whereas Daniels has confused a number of occasions that he wouldn’t be considering rebooting the collection and revisiting the unique characters with new actors, he has been open to persevering with it in a roundabout way. Opening up a growth room with a few of his closest collaborators looks like an enormous step ahead in making {that a} actuality. Nevertheless, it’s vital to notice that this can be a very early growth that might result in a profitable thought or nowhere in any respect, which is typical at this stage.
Whereas particular person authentic solid members might presumably pop up in a brand new franchise collection, a full-blown reunion seems to be out of the query. B.J. Novak, who was additionally a author on the American collection, beforehand advised Deadline, “Undoubtedly you wouldn’t get everybody again collectively, that ship has sailed.”