Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: bryan cranston, greg daniels, the office

The Office: Bryan Cranston Pitches Film Over Reboot/Revival Series

On the Office Ladies podcast, Bryan Cranston (who directed an episode) proposed a film rather than a reboot series with the original cast.

While The Office was emerging as a megahit on NBC as the popular American take on the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant BBC hit series since its premiere in 2005, Fox's Malcolm in the Middle was in the final two seasons of its run. Series star Bryan Cranston, who played family patriarch Hal in the Fox sitcom created by Linwood Boomer, appeared in The Office podcast Office Ladies hosted by cast members Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (Angela) about how to relaunch the franchise, which deviates from creator Greg Daniels' thoughts on his legacy sequel.

"Let's say that there's not a reboot series, but what if there was a movie?" Cranston asked. "Something to where we can see where these people are. These people in the entire cast that we're curious about. We wondered at the end, where did they go? What did become of them?" Hosts warmed up to the idea, with Fischer conditionally stating she would sign on only if Daniels was involved, "Because [then] I would trust it. You know? As long as Greg is writing it and he's in charge of it, then I say yes." Kinsey added, "I would do it for my kids because I think they would think that's fun."

Cranston, while he didn't appear in the NBC series, directed the season nine episode "Work Bus," and if The Office returned, wouldn't want anything more than a cameo. "I just want to be an extra in it," the Breaking Bad star said. "I would be some guy. I'd be a crossing guard or something like that. Just something." Daniels stated the new incarnation wouldn't involve any of the original cast, but wouldn't mind appearances from them which probably means being set in the same paper company of Dunder Mifflin. "I feel like we ended that story beautifully," Daniels told The Wrap of the original series. "The characters had closure. I would never want to redo that same show with a different cast, because I think we got the luckiest cast, the best cast ever, in TV, to do that show. So the notion of a reboot is not of interest. The notion of maybe something like the way 'The Mandalorian' is a new show in the Star Wars universe, you know what I mean? Something like the notion of this documentary crew doing a documentary about a different subject."

Original The Office star Steve Carell (Michael Scott), who left the series in season seven and returned to cameo in the series finale, told Collider, "I love the show. It was the most exciting time, and all of those people are my friends. We all love it. It was a special thing. It was a special thing before people thought it was a special thing. It was special to us before other people started feeling that way. But, no" on returning for the reboot. The series also starred John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Phyllis Smith, Creed Bratton, and Oscar Nuñez. The Office is available to stream on Peacock.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!