At this point, the American remake of The Office is one of the most beloved TV sitcoms in the history of the medium. It’s just a fact.
A large part of what made the show work so well was Steve Carell’s performance as Michael Scott. He effectively made the character iconic, and he even won a Golden Globe for his efforts in 2006.
You probably also know that Steve left the show at the end of its seventh season, in 2011. The show would go on for two more seasons before closing out for good in 2013.
Some believe that the show was never the same after Steve left, and it sounds like that includes Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute across all nine seasons of The Office. In a recent appearance on the Good Guys podcast, Rainn got real about how the cast tried to make it to the end without their effective lead anchor of a performance.
“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 and, how are we telling these stories without, you know, the comic engine of the show, which is Michael Scott, and without one of the greatest comic actors in American history at the center of our show,” he said.
“That was also a struggle.”
Rainn also said that, for most of the show’s cast, the writing had been on the wall about anticipating Steve’s departure — and they were none too surprised when it took place.
“We knew it was coming for a long time,” he said, after noting that Steve was “such a big movie star at the time.” “He was doing, like, Burt Wonderstone and these big comedies,” Rainn added. “I’m forgetting all the names of them at the time, but, Get Smart, you know? [Movies] that were in 2,000 theaters at the multiplex.”
“So, of course, he’s going to leave The Office when he can!”
Fair enough! You can listen to the entire interview here.