How do you keep a beloved show after his just as loved star decides to take his career in a new direction? This is a question that “Grey’s Anatomy” has been sailing for several years after Ellen Pompeo has resumed her turning point as Meredith Gray. And before that, “The Office” lost its comic strip center when Steve Carell was completely out to focus on movie work.
The co-star of “The Office” Rainn Wilson admitted to a podcast this week that it was a fight for distribution and the creative team behind the sitcom NBC to continue to advance after losing its star.
During an appearance on Monday on the “Podcast Good Guys”, Wilson told the hosts Josh Peck and Ben Sofer that “The Office” became “a little chaotic” in the aftermath of Carell’s departure.
“When Steve left, then it was a bit chaotic while trying to understand the tone of the series and which is the main one and how we tell these stories without, you know, the comic engine of the series, which is Michael Scott, and without one of the biggest comic players in American history at the center of our show,” said Wilson. “It was also a struggle.”
When he was asked what his reaction was when he learned for the first time that Carell left the NBC series, Wilson said: “We knew it was going for a long time. He was such a big movie star at the time.”
You can watch Wilson’s conversation with Peck and adapt in the video below:
“The Office” helped to transform Carell into a Hollywood general star. He was widely acclaimed for his performance as Michael Scott, the clumsy and unconscious manager of the Central Office of the show’s paper company, and won six Emmy nominations for his turn as a character. He finally left the sitcom towards the end of his seventh season in 2011.
As Wilson noted, Carell had already started to build a successful film career at that time. “He was doing” Burt Wonderstone “and these great comedies. I forget all the names at the time, but “be intelligent”, do you know? [Movies] It was in 2,000 multiplex theaters, “recalls Wilson.” So of course, he will leave “the office” when he can! »»
The unsurprising nature of the release of Carell, however, has not facilitated the task of the show team to adapt to its absence. “We were prepared there, but it was definitely a fight to find the tone of the show without Steve,” said the actor, who played the intense Dwight Schrute.
“The Office” continued without Carell for two seasons before ending in 2013. Carell, in particular, made a surprise return as Scott in the final of the series “Office”. For the future, the spin-off “The Office”, “The Paper”, is in development at Peacock and should be presented in September.
