Steve Carell Won’t ‘Show Up’ in New Spinoff of ‘The Office’: ‘I Will Be Watching’

Don’t expect Michael Scott to make an appearance in the upcoming spinoff of The Office.

Steve Carell, who played Dunder Mifflin’s regional manager for seven seasons on The Office, shared that he won’t be making a cameo in the new series. “I will be watching, but I will not be showing up. It’s just a new thing and there’s really no reason for my character [Michael Scott] to show up in something like that,” Carell, 61, told The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere of his new film IF on Monday, May 13.

He added that he’s “excited” about the new series, giving a nod to its “great conceit.” The spinoff, which comes from The Office cocreator Greg Daniels and Nathan For You cocreator Michael Koman, follows a struggling Midwestern newspaper trying to revive itself through the help of volunteer reporters.

Starring Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore, the series is set adjacent to the world of Dunder Mifflin, with the same documentary crew capturing the newspaper’s office dynamics. The show — which will stream on Peacock — has yet to be titled.

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Daniels, who originally worked with NBC to adapt The Office for an American audience, opened up a development room to work on the project in January. The U.S. version of the BBC hit comedy premiered in 2005, starring Carell, Mindy Kaling, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, B.J. Novak, Jenna Fischer and others who rose to stardom during the show’s nine-season run.

While Daniels is moving away from the world of Scranton and its paper salesman, some of the original cast have hinted that they would consider returning for some sort of reboot.

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“I mean, I’d do it,” Kinsey, 52, said of reprising her role as Angela Martin in a potential Office movie during a January episode of the “Office Ladies” podcast.

Fischer, 50, who played Pam Beesly, added she’d be down if Daniels was at the helm of the project. “As long as Greg is writing it and he’s in charge of it, then I say yes,” she noted.

Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin Malone, shared similar opinions exclusively with Us Weekly one month later. “If Greg Daniels was involved, then yeah, of course,” he shared in February, adding, “I think at some point we’ll be back together, but there’s no immediate plans.”