TV
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) reveals why Steve Carell beat him out for the role of Michael Scott on The Office
Bob Odenkirk, the ageless Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, shares his thoughts on why Steve Carell was cast as Michael Scott on The Office and not him.
The popular and well-received series ‘The Office’ has left us with all kinds of stories and anecdotes to remember. This American remake of the British series of the same name could have been very different from what it turned out to be: Bob Odenkirk (‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Better Call Saul’) was one of the candidates for the role of Michael Scott that Steve Carell finally got, and he has revealed what he thinks was the reason Carell took the job away from him: he is too earnest.
Bob Odenkirk thinks he’s “very earnest” and that’s why he didn’t get the role of Michael Scott on ‘The Office
On the ‘Office Ladies’ podcast with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, who played Pam Beesly and Angela Martin on ‘The Office,’ Bob Odenkirk revealed the reason why he thinks Steve Carell took the role of Michael Scott when he was one of the candidates previously considered. “I am, in a strange way, a very earnest person for a person in comedy. You know, I am oddly earnest. And I think it’s it’s one of the things that makes me a little- it’s one of the reasons I think Steve Carell is a better, you know, is the one who got the role,” he commented.
“There were other parts that I think I was up for that Steve got, and it’s because he’s better at being genuinely fun. I think I bring with me a little bit too much earnest seriousness, and it’s just kinda there. And there’s nothing I can do about it except play other roles where it’s helpful to have that. And, you know, you just don’t believe me as a purely light character. You just are looking for the darkness, and that’s actually great in drama. That’s a plus, you know? But in comedy, it’s not a plus,” he said.
Although the two-time Emmy Award-winning actor and writer lamented not getting the role of Michael Scott, he did appear in the series in a cameo and as a casting gag. In the episode “Moving On,” Odenkirk played the manager of a real estate office where Pam tries to get a job as a change of scenery after leaving Dunder Mifflin. Fischer herself commented, “The idea was, Pam’s going to go in for an interview at this real estate office … and they thought it would be really funny if it was like her life was going to repeat itself now in Philadelphia. And her boss is basically Michael Scott.”
Or to put it another way: Odenkirk’s role at this point was a preview of what his version of Michael Scott, an eccentric boss who does nothing but get into trouble and unnecessarily embarrass his employees, would have been like. “You know, although I do think that what I was doing was more a tribute to Steve because that’s what I was supposed to be doing.,” Odenkirk said.
Despite not being cast in the critically acclaimed series, he played Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad from 2009 to 2013, and reprised the role in the prequel/sequel Better Call Saul from 2015 to 2022. The Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill a posteriori was his most iconic role and the one for which he is most recognized.