Heartfelt statement from ‘The Office’ star: “It was chaotic, how are we telling these stories without the comic engine?”
In an interview with the ‘Good Guys’ podcast, Rainn Wilson recalled the “struggle” faced by ‘The Office’ after Steve Carrell’s departure.
Rainn Wilson says the U.S. version of The Office was left in chaos when the sitcom’s lead actor, Steve Carrell, departed the show.
In NBC’s workplace mockumentary, which was based on Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant’s BBC series of the same name, Carrell starred as Michael Scott, a regional manager at the fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin.
But after seven seasons and 148 episodes as The Office’s focal point, Carrell left as a series regular in 2011.
“We knew it was coming”
Wilson, who played Dunder Mifflin salesman Dwight Schrute throughout the The Office’s eight-year run, told the Good Guys podcast this month that Carrell’s exit wasn’t unexpected, but was traumatic nonetheless.
“When Steve left, then it was a little bit chaotic of trying to figure out the tone of the show and who’s the lead,” Wilson said.
“How are we telling these stories without, you know, the comic engine of the show, which is Michael Scott? Without one of the greatest comic actors in American history at the center of our show?”
“We knew it was coming for a long time,” Wilson added, recalling that Carrell had established himself as a major Hollywood name by the time of his departure.
“Definitely a struggle”
“He was such a big movie star at the time," Wilson said. “I don’t know how many millions of dollars he was getting for these big, giant movies […]. So of course he’s going to leave The Office when he can.
“So we were prepared for it, but that was definitely a struggle to find the tone of the show without Steve.”
A series that aired for 201 episodes after premiering in March 2005, The Office continued for two more seasons after Carrell left, before concluding in May 2013.
Carrell returned for a guest appearance in the series finale, which saw Wilson’s Schrute marry Dunder Mifflin accountant Angela Martin (played by Angela Kinsey).
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