Posted in: Peacock, TV | Tagged: the office, The Paper

The Paper Star Domhnall Gleeson Teases "Funnier" Season 2, Ned-Mare

The Paper star Domhnall Gleeson teased that viewers can expect a "funnier" Season 2 and Ned's efforts to balance his work and personal life.

When Domhnall Gleeson was tasked to lead The Office spinoff The Paper on Peacock, it was certainly a tall one to carry the burden of a franchise since not only was much of his career not built on comedy, but he would have to pick up with audiences where the original series left off, more than 10 years since its finale in 2013. Luckily, he wasn't alone in this endeavor since, first, one advantage was that he had his start in acting through sketch comedy. Second, he had creator Greg Daniels and series writer (and The Paper co-creator) Michael Koman to provide that foundation, and third, the ensemble cast, who are as talented and quirky as he can be. In The Paper, Gleeson plays Ned Sampson, the editor-in-chief of The Toledo Truth Teller, a once-proud local newspaper based in Ohio that fell into the spendthrift ways many publications fall into. Through persistence, Ned makes believers of his ragtag staff, especially compositor-turned-reporter Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei), whom he falls in love with, as the staff wins local journalism awards at the end of season one. While promoting his latest comedy in Sumerian Pictures' The Incomer, Gleeson spoke to Bleeding Cool about how Ned is trying to maintain a work-life balance as not only the Truth Teller's EIC, but also trying to keep his relationship with his employee a secret from staff, and getting to work on comedies back-to-back.

The Paper: Domhnall Gleeson on What Ned's Struggles in Season 2 & More

Bleeding Cool: When it came to navigating Ned's journey through work-life balance in The Truth Teller, what did you enjoy most about working with the ensemble cast and Ned trying to balance that secret relationship with Chelsea's character, Mare, in the second season?

Gleeson: I think that was the joy of it. Giving the characters problems is a good thing. I think what they find out at the end of season one, he basically gets everything he ever dreamed of, and then in season two, you find out that that's not always a good thing, and that the struggle of that is kind of hard. I don't know, working with Chelsea. It's wonderful. She's very there, and she's very present, and it's lucky because there are two comedies [I have] back-to-back with 'The Incomer' and ['The Paper']. I really feel like in both, some of my favorite times are the times where it goes quiet, and there are real moments. We got to have lots of them in 'The Incomer.' There are some of my favorite bits in the film, despite it being so funny, and similarly in 'The Paper.' I think this season is funnier than last season, but I also think we get a couple of really nice, sweet moments that aren't too saccharine as well, so I'm excited for people to see it.

The Paper, which also stars Sabrina Impacciatore, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, Tim Key, Eric Rahill, Duane R. Shepard Sr, and Oscar Nuñez, premieres September 9th on Peacock. The Incomer, which also stars Gayle Rankin, Grant O'Rourke, Emun Elliot, Michelle Gomez, and John Hannah, comes to theaters on September 25th.

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