Rainn Wilson Says NBC Missed Out On Huge Money With The Office Spinoff (And He’s Absolutely Right)

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It’s mind-boggling to ponder that “The Office,” now recognized as a timeless TV classic, came close to being axed after its first season. Fortunately, it survived and later saw a resurgence when it started streaming on Netflix. Now housed on Peacock, the show continues to captivate audiences, but Rainn Wilson, the star of “The Office” who portrayed Dwight Schrute, asserts that NBC missed out on substantial earnings by forgoing a spinoff series, and he’s undeniably correct in his assessment.

During a chat on The Last Laugh podcast (as reported by Variety), Wilson shared some reasons behind NBC’s decision not to produce a spinoff series, which was initially set up as a backdoor pilot in season 9 of The Office. Known as The Farm, this spinoff could have potentially added another billion dollars to NBC’s bank if they had developed the show.

A Flashy Change in Direction

At that point, NBC was under a new management who preferred creating bold, vibrant, and spectacular shows with multiple cameras, reminiscent of ‘Friends’. They had no interest at all in spin-offs for ‘The Office’ during that time. If they had picked up ‘The Farm’, it would likely have brought them an additional billion dollars.

Wilson stated that despite ‘The Farm’ not reaching the greatness of ‘The Office’, those who love ‘The Office’ so much to watch it 20 times will still give ‘The Farm’ a go at least once or twice. While it might not have equaled ‘The Office’, he believes it would have been good, solid comedy with some exciting elements. He feels they missed out on something.

A Misguided Decision

Viewers have encountered several spin-offs of favorite shows, such as “Friends,” which produced the spin-off series “Joey” with mediocre responses. Despite the fact that the show wasn’t the same following Steve Carell’s departure, it remains challenging to imagine the spin-off series not attracting viewers, particularly if they capitalized on the peculiarities inherent in a character like Dwight.

When “The Series” debuted on Netflix, it appeared as though NBC hadn’t anticipated its resurgence in popularity, thus they failed to capitalize on it effectively until they eventually secured the rights for their own platform. If NBC had “The Farm” at their disposal during this period, they might have found a way to leverage the renewed interest; however, Wilson points out that this issue was inherent within the situation itself.

Wilson stated, “In NBC’s history with ‘The Office’, they didn’t initially grasp the show’s potential. It wasn’t until nearly five years after its end that the enormous viewership on Netflix of around billions of minutes caught their attention. Suddenly, NBC realized, ‘This could be a profitable asset. This is actually a high-quality show with staying power.’

Now, NBC has revived “The Office” through its spinoff series titled “The Paper,” which has already been approved for a second season on Peacock. The show features some characters from the original cast, and while we don’t yet know if more characters will appear in season 2, it remains to be seen. Meanwhile, “The Farm” serves as a hypothetical scenario, but it seems NBC is still keen on maintaining its connection with the paper industry.

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2025-09-12 07:10