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The Office Reboot? Ellie Kemper Says Don’t Hold Your Breath

“I would love there to be a reboot, but I don’t think there will be,” the actress said.
the office cast
By Chris Haston/Nbc-Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock.

The Office clocked in at 201 episodes—yet still, its fans want more. Calls for a reboot have been sounding ever since the show went off the air in 2013 (and went on to become Billie Eilish’s absolute jam). Still, many members of the cast have repeatedly said a reboot could never work. Repeatedly.

Now, yet another cast member has weighed in. On Thursday’s Watch What Happens Live, Ellie Kemper, who played Erin on the NBC series, put a damper on the reboot rumblings.

“I would love there to be a reboot, but I don’t think there will be,” she said. “So, that’s a sad answer.”

However, she does think the show could be rekindled in another way: “Maybe like, a reunion episode?” she said. “That would be fun!”

Steve Carell, who played the inept Michael Scott on the series, has said more than once that he doesn’t like the idea of a reboot, explaining why the show just wouldn’t work in a contemporary setting. “Apart from the fact that I just don’t think that’s a good idea, it might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted 10 years ago,” he told Esquire in 2018. “The climate’s different.”

“I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior,” he added. “A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now. There’s a very high awareness of offensive things today—which is good, for sure. But at the same time, when you take a character like that too literally, it doesn’t really work.”

When he hosted Saturday Night Live last November, Carell poked fun at the reunion howls in his monologue. Former costars Kemper, Ed Helms, and Jenna Fischer all showed up, facetiously begging him to consider a reboot.

Back in 2017, there were reports that NBC was seriously considering a reboot—but as time drags on, it’s clear that might not be in the cards.

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The 30 Best Animated Shows Since The Simpsons

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From ©Nickelodeon Television/Everett Collection.
  1. Doug (1991-1994)
I was a Nickelodeon kid, not a Disney/ABC kid. (Millennials know that this is a crucial distinction.) So when Doug Funnie, Patti Mayonnaise, Skeeter, and the gang made the jump from the latter network to the former in 1996, I didn’t follow them. But for awhile there, Doug was home to the most relatable goober in children’s TV. Lovelorn for Patti, with an adorable dog named Porkchop, a chic older sister, and more than his share of #kidproblems (I still, for some reason, think often about him having to write an essay on silt deposits—I still don’t know what those are), Doug was the ideal everyman for boring kids like me. His show also had some of the best character names on TV to date: Tippi Dink, Roger Klotz, Mosquito Valentine. Dickens would be proud. — K. Austin Collins
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