This post lists items related to Steve Carell’s departure from ‘The Office’ — his current contract expires at the end of Season 7.
NBC confirms Steve’s impending exit from the show (excerpts from AP):
In the network’s first acknowledgment of Carell’s plans, NBC Primetime Entertainment President Angela Bromstad said Monday the actor’s seven-year run as erratic Dunder Mifflin boss Michael Scott will end when his contract expires in 2011. But Bromstad said the show will go on.
“We’ve been lucky to have had him as long as we’ve had. These things happen when you have such a major movie star in a show,” she said.
“Not to diminish the departure of Steve, because that will impact the show, but we have tremendous faith in the writers and actors to keep it alive,” Bromstad said.
The door is open if he wants to make return visits to the show, Bromstad said.
Whether Michael Scott’s job will be filled by a promotion from within or an outside hire is under discussion. Bringing in a big-name star is an option, but “it’s not the front-running idea,” said Paul Lieberstein, a cast member and executive producer.
“Right now, we’re still talking about a lot of scenarios. We’re trying to get a sense of what the office is like without Steve. We want to be real: What would this office really do (if Michael Scott left)? We want to pursue this as honestly as Dunder Mifflin would,” he said.
Nobody wants to see Carell leave, said Lieberstein, who plays Toby, the embattled voice of human-resources reason.
“But what we’ll get creatively is actually very exciting. We don’t have to do auto reset at the end of the season, but we get to move on,” he said.
Previously posted items on the next page.
