You may have heard that Peacock’s new comedy series “The Paper” is a spinoff of “The Office.” And while Greg Daniels and much of the original crew are indeed back for more, this sitcom is actually closer to a spiritual successor to the NBC show as opposed to an outright follow-up, according to those involved.
“We’re not doing the American ‘Office,’ really. It’s entirely new. We share Oscar in common with ‘The Office,’ but apart from that, we’re a new thing. I tried not to keep the other shows in my head while doing it,” Domhnall Gleeson told TheWrap at the Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday night. “I’d seen the show before; I love it, it’s wonderful. But we’re making something new, so the thing was to try to take a step over to the side and not remind yourself of what they were doing. Find your own ground.”
“I’m going to go ahead and say it’s not a spinoff,” Oscar Nunez agreed. “When someone says something, you’re like, whatever. I didn’t think this was going to happen. But he’s Greg Daniels and he gets things done, so I’m glad he saw it through.”
While it’s clearly set in the same universe as Dunder Mifflin — complete with the same camera crew and another notable cameo in the pilot episode — “The Paper” stands on its own all the way in Toledo, Ohio. So, yes, that means the Truth Teller is technically closer to Pawnee than it is to Scranton.
In fact, co-creator Michael Koman told TheWrap he “would never say no” to bringing in an eventual “Parks & Recreation” crossover: “It just hasn’t been explored yet.”
So how did he and Daniels settle on Oscar as the great unifier between the shows?
“For me, Oscar makes a lot of sense because he’s hilarious. When the first show ended, almost every character had their story tightly wrapped up and Oscar’s was more open-ended, so there was a freedom there to have him carry on,” Koman explained. “The first order of business was to not replicate anything. There’s a tone to ‘The Office’ and a sensibility that is baked into Greg’s creative DNA, and that is enough to create a similar feel. Fortunately, we have very similar senses of humor, so I didn’t have to worry about anything feeling off, comedy-wise.”
Fellow stars Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, Eric Rahill and Nate Jackson also walked the red carpet at Harmony Gold in Hollywood on Wednesday night, followed by an afterparty at The Sun Rose (The Pendry).
“I love being an actor, but getting to write with this group of people? One of the great writers in TV history is Greg Daniels, so getting to be in that writers’ room is very special,” Emmy-winning Edelman shared. “I loved ‘Parks & Rec’ and a bunch of his offspring — Mike Schur, Justin Spitzer, ‘Superstore,’ ‘The Good Place,’ ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine.’ I’m a comedy-writing fan, so it’s special to be a part of this.”
Meanwhile, Impacciatore admitted of Daniels, “When I finished ‘White Lotus,’ I thought I will never work again. That’s it. Who could I work with after working with such genius? I could die easy. But then this other genius appears in my life. I think I’m a genius magnet.”
Elsewhere in the ensemble are actors sitcom fans will recognize from shows like “Never Have I Ever,” “American Vandal” and “Dollface.”
“It’s great to be able to continue the universe of ‘The Office,’ the legacy. ‘American Vandal’ was my first series in 2018 and I absolutely loved it, so to come back to this space a little older, a little more mature, the alignment is perfect,” Gregg said. “I love how [The Office] introduced so many stars to the world. It took a format and made it so common, so to work with the crew who originated it is a blessing.”
“The characters on ‘The Paper’ are purposely completely original and so different, and it was intentionally that way,” Young further noted. “I had worked with several cast members from the original and am just very aware of how iconic it was in American pop culture … Mindy [Kaling] was very stoked, very congratulatory and very supportive.”
Frei even had a personal connection to the series’ central plot: “My nana worked at her local newspaper my entire life, so it’s always been in my blood and DNA in a way, so it was fun to research more and connect with journalists for this show.”
Series regular Tim Key also stars, in addition to Duane Shepard Sr., Allan Havey, Mo Welch, Nancy Lenehan, Molly Ephraim and Tracy Letts. Other notable guests included original series stars Ellie Kemper, Kate Flannery, Paul Lieberstein and Creed Bratton, as well as Pearlena Igbokwe, Lauren Tom, Meghan Trainor, Daryl Sabara, Allegra Edwards, Clayton Snyder, Hannah Pilkes and Will Burkart.
Plus, Nathan Fielder surprised the audience as moderator for a post-screening Q&A that went about as well as you can imagine it went (this is, of course, the highest compliment).
All 10 episodes of “The Paper” Season 1 drop Sept. 4 on Peacock.
