James Spader, who guested on "The Office" last season as one of several applicants to replace Michael Scott, could join the show in an even bigger job, TheWrap has confirmed.
Spader is in talks to join the cast, but his possibly genius, sex-focused character would replace Kathy Bates' Jo Bennett as the CEO of Dunder Mifflin. EW, which first reported the talks, said Bates wants to focus on her own NBC show, "Harry's Law," which debuted this past season.
Also read: Ben Silverman: 'The Office' Is a Place 'Where TV and Film Stars Co-Exist'
The talks could be finalized soon: "Office" executive producer Ben Silverman told TheWrap the show's first table read for next season is scheduled for July 19.
Spader, a three-time Emmy winner (twice for "Boston Legal" and once for "The Practice"), would bring his scary-cool presence to a show that thrives on uncomfortable moments — and would surely create more of them.
His character nearly blew the minds of the show's Jim (John Krasinski) and Toby (Paul Lieberstein) as he explained to them in his job interview that all sales come down to this: "Everything is sex."
The declaration led Jim to wonder if he might be overqualified — which could explain his ending up in the CEO job.
Watch the interviews episode:
Would you tune in to watch Spader?