Why Is 'The Paper' About Journalism, Suddenly? 'The Office' Creator Explains
The upcoming series will be set in The Office’s universe, but will still have a much more profound connection to the real life.
The Steve Carrell-led hit cringey series The Office might be long gone, but the world it’s created is yet to face some dangers, this time with a local paper being targeted.
An official spinoff to The Office, The Paper is just weeks away from premiering on Peacock, bringing in another story from the same crew of documentalists who will be travelling to Toledo, Ohio, and tracking down the attempts of Toledo Truth-Teller’s team to resurrect the dying outlet.
However, The Office’s fans have already spent enough time trying to connect the dots and see something in common between the original show and its upcoming spinoff. Well, the whole mission is completely different now, according to The Paper and The Office’s creator.
Greg Daniels Says ‘The Paper’ Will Be an Inspiration for Real-Life Journalists
While The Office wasn’t based on anything in particular and just followed the rules of a mockumentary, The Paper is meant to become something much more important for the modern society, especially for journalists who have been stripped of many opportunities in the recent years.
“The point is, in this show, it’s sort of like people who have been a little bit beaten down in an uninspiring particular situation, becoming inspired by somebody new — and I think journalism as a pursuit, is so important. And the newspapers have been hollowed out by these economic forces”, The Office and The Paper’s creator Greg Daniels revealed in an interview with TheWrap recently.
He also suggested the audiences now need some kind of series where somebody new comes in and inspires everyone else to start afresh, even if it means starting from scratch after being deprived of all financial support.
Greg Daniels Wouldn’t Make ‘The Office’ Reboot Anyway
Now that there’s an Australian version of The Office released back in 2024, there’s no need for another remake of the cult comedy show, but Daniels had nothing against placing another idea into the same universe.
As the creator told TheWrap last year, he’d love to develop a completely different story with kind the same mockumentary premise.
“Something like the notion of this documentary crew doing a documentary about a different subject. That, I think, could be intriguing and creative”, Daniels said.
In the meantime, The Paper’s season 1 is landing on Peacock on September 4.
