Key Insights

• Jenna Fischer’s Perspective: Fischer’s children view her as a podcaster, not fully understanding the content of her podcast.
• Steve Carell’s Decision: Carell chose not to return to his character Michael Scott due to the changing cultural climate.
• Modern Acceptance: Carell believes that the original characters would struggle to resonate with today’s audience.
• Original Series Reflection: Carell notes that much of the humor in the original series may not be acceptable in the current environment.

“They were so little when that change happened, they thought of me as a podcaster,” Fischer continued. “If anybody asked them, ‘What does your mom do?’ They go, ‘Oh she’s a podcaster. She has a podcast.’”

Despite her podcast being directly tied to her role on The Office, she noted, “They didn’t even understand what my podcast was about.”

And Fischer isn’t the only one who decided to leave corporate life behind. Despite NBC launching The Paper last year, Carell—who starred as boss Michael Scott for seven seasons of the original show—previously explained why he would not return to his beloved character. 

“There’s been a resurgence in interest in the show, and talk about bringing it back,” Carell explained in an interview with Esquire in 2018. “But apart from the fact that I just don’t think that’s a good idea, it might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted 10 years ago. The climate’s different.”

Indeed, in Carell’s perspective, the characters in the original series would not work on a modern show—aside from, of course, Oscar Nuñez’s Oscar Martinez, who is the sole original character featured in The Paper. 

“A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded,” Carell explained of the original series. “That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now. There’s a very high awareness of offensive things today—which is good, for sure. But at the same time, when you take a character like that too literally, it doesn’t really work.”

For a look at what the rest of the original The Office cast is up to now, keep reading…