James Spader Joins ‘Office’ Cast as New CEO

Actor quickly rises above Michael Scott’s old job

James Spader has joined the regular cast of "The Office" as Robert California, the new CEO of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder Mifflin, NBC announced.

The three-time Emmy winner guest-starred on last season's finale as a scarily capable applicant for Michael Scott's job. In the new season we'll learn that he not only got it, but quickly rose above it.

Also read: Ben Silverman: "The Office' Is a Place 'Where TV and Film Stars Co-Exist"

"James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,” said series regular Paul Lieberstein, one of the series’ executive producers.  "He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and ‘The Office’ has no tools for dealing with this guy.  We're thrilled he's joining our cast."

Last season, California nearly blew the minds of the show's Jim (John Krasinski) and Toby (Lieberstein) as he explained to them in his job interview that all sales come down to this: "Everything is sex."

Watch Spader in action:

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