Caffeinated Clint
With Steve Carell gone, we knew the end had to be near for NBC’s “The Office” – well, seems the end will come at the end of the current, ninth, season.
The show’s final season will be shepherded by executive producer Greg Daniels, taking over from season 6-8 helmer Phil Lieberstein, who is off developing the Rainn Wilson/Dwight spin-off.
“As we head into the homestretch, we have a lot of exciting things I’ve been wanting to do since season two,” THR quoted Daniels. “The end should be pretty cool.”
Daniels didn’t want to keep pushing a wheelbarrow of poop up hill, it seems.
“At some point you have a choice: to always tell the beginnings of stories and the middles or to allow a story to end, and I think endings can be very powerful and meaningful pieces of the story,” he said. “If we didn’t let it end this year, I don’t know if we would have been able to tell the endings for so many characters that I really want to know the endings for.”
The final season won’t rely so much on punchlines, as it will tying up character arcs.
“The real heart of the show are these arcs that allow these characters to have ongoing stories. It’s all going to be set up in the premiere,” Daniels said. “There’s so much to pay off from nine seasons, so many great characters, that my biggest concern is just tacking in these great ideas that the writing staff has on the walls and making sure we hit all of them or at least squeeze as many into the ending.”
What about Steve Carell? Will he be back for the final episode?
“We’ll see,” Daniels said of the idea to bring the actor back to the series that helped launch his career. “We have ideas for the ending, and obviously if he would participate, we would have a lot of good times. The idea will fly without him if he can’t make it. He is pretty busy.”
I’d say Steve will do it. He’s a pretty loyal guy. If he’s not sandwiched in a Meryl Streep production somewhere, he’ll don the suit-and-tie for one more hurrah.
