Without Steve Carell in the role of Michael Scott, it is hard to picture The Office finding the success that it did. Star of the show John Krasinski admits his career would have suffered without Steve Carell by his side.
In the following, we're going to take a closer look back at the final episode of The Office, and what went on between the showrunners and Steve Carell.
We'll also reveal the details that went into the making of the last episode. As we're going to reveal, NBC was left in the dark in terms of the material, and the show took a major risk bringing back Carell, without telling the network or anyone else anything.
Let's take a look back at how it all went down, and how the showrunners and cast were able to keep things a secret.
The Office Creators Kept Steve Carell's Return Hidden By Having Creed Read His Lines
Greg Daniels admitted that the plan to end The Office after season 9 really wasn't the plan at the start. Some of the stars on the series suggested the show end during the ninth season, however Daniels wanted to see how things went. Following the finale for season 8, he became aware that it was indeed time to end the show with one last season.
Daniels reveals alongside EW, "John Krasinski and Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak were pretty confident that we should have a final season. And when they first suggested at the end of season 8, I thought, “Let’s keep trying to go as long as we can.” But as we got it underway, I actually thought it was a great move, and I got really on board because it opened up a lot of stories, and it felt very good to ultimately have an end."
Michael Scott's return during the finale was a moment all fans wanted to see. Daniels admitted there wasn't much discussion about it at the start, but it was a given that they wanted him to appear.
"Well, there wasn’t any discussion about it. It was just like, obviously, it would be great to have him and not great to make a big deal out of it because [the finale] wasn’t going to be about his character because he hadn’t been there [since the seventh season]. It wouldn’t have been a big finale without him."
Once Carell was onboard, the show kept things very secretive, with Creed reading his lines at the table read. In addition, it seems like NBC was completely in the dark as well in regard to Steve's finale return.
The Office Creators Took A Major Risk Not Telling NBC About Steve Carell's Return
Carell's exit from The Office will always be heavily debated. Some stories suggest the actor left to spend more time with family and other projects, while another belief is that contract negotiations came to an end due to a breakdown in communication.
Nonetheless, having the actor back for the finale was a huge moment for the show. Many would agree that things weren't the same following his departure. As it turns out, NBC had very little input on what went on during the finale, and gave the creators and producers all the power to do as they pleased. This made a lot of the crew worried given that NBC wasn't aware of Michael Scott's return. Some even feared they might lose their jobs over it.
Daniels revealed, "No, they were super supportive," he said about NBC's input on the finale.
"They wanted it to be done the way we wanted to do it and helped us strategize about how to pull it off. That’s all. Well actually … you know, we didn’t tell them about Steve. They didn’t know about Steve and the line producer was a little nervous about it, I think he was afraid he was going to lose his job. But we shot the Steve stuff and we kept it out of the dailies and didn’t tell them about it."
Who can forget Michael Scott's iconic line, "that's what she said," as Dwight looks on completely stunned. What a moment.
John Krasinski Also Lied About Steve Carell's Return During Interviews
It took a major effort from the entire cast to keep Michael Scott's finale return a secret, and that includes John Krasinski. The actor was forced to keep things quiet, even during candid interviews. Speaking alongside MovieWeb, the actor recalls the finale, and Steve's return.
"It was so thrilling. We all just flat-out lied. I lied to Letterman! I have to apologize to him for that at some point. It was just one of those things that we all vowed and had to protect. Look what happened — it was the best. The 'that's what she said' [throwback] was the perfect use of Steve."
Credit to John for keeping it a secret and issuing a lie to the biggest late night host in the game at the time. Now that's commitment!
