The Office Remake Reveals Michael Scott Replacement In First Image

Summary

• An Australian remake of
  The Office
  debuts Oct. 18 on Prime Video with a female lead character.
• Hannah Howard, who is played by Felicity Ward, will be the franchise’s first-ever female boss.
• A loose spinoff of
  The Office
  is also being made for Peacock, but there have already been international versions of the sitcom.

The Office‘s Australian remake reveals the first image of Michael Scott’s replacement. A loose spinoff of The Office is coming to Peacock, which will feature the same documentary camera crew from the Steve Carell series. The project, currently titled The Paper, hails from The Office U.S. creator Greg Daniels and Michael Koman. It has already cast two key roles, with Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore joining the project. However, there’s another version of the seminal comedy that is on the way very soon.

Deadline confirms that the Australian remake of The Office will debut all eight episodes on October 18 on Prime Video. The announcement came with a first-look image of Felicity Ward as the franchise’s first-ever female lead, playing new boss Hannah Howard. Howard is viewed as a similar character to Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, who is best known for his awkward and inappropriate nature. Check out the new image below:

What To Know About The New Office Remake

It Is Only The Latest International Version Of The Show

In the new Australian version of The Office, Hannah gets word from the top brass that her branch will be shutting down and that everyone will be working from home. This pushes the boss to make promises about keeping the team together despite these big changes. But it doesn’t go according to plan, as the branch also has to work towards the targets that have been set for them. More is revealed in Prime Video’s official synopsis below:

In

The Office, Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.

Along with Howard, who can currently be seen in the Apple TV+ comedy Time Bandits, the cast of the Australian version of The Office includes Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade, Lucy Schmidt, Zoe Terakes, Pallavi Sharda, and Claude Jabbour. Susie Youssef, Justin Rosniiak, Carlo Ritchie, Rick Donald, and Chris Bunton, meanwhile, appear in guest roles. Specific character details have not yet been revealed.

This latest remake promises more, though, with its work-from-home twist.

The Office: Australia, which was developed by Julie De Fina and Jackie van Beek, is hardly the first international take on the popular mockumentary. It started off as a British comedy, and there have since been several adaptations. That includes shows from France, Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Africa, Sweden, and more. This latest remake promises more, though, with its work-from-home twist, which will help it stand out from the crowd and bring a unique element to the tried-and-true premise. At the same time, it will likely have all the hallmarks of the beloved franchise.

The Office
is best known for its fly-on-the-wall style, which lends itself to fourth wall breaks and talking heads.

What’s The Latest On Peacock’s Office Reboot?

It Will Unfold In The World Of Journalism

What is interesting about The Office adaptations is that their premises don’t have to fall in the vein of the Ricky Gervais version, or the far more recognized Carell series. While the international adaptations do recreate some of the show’s most memorable moments, there is also a cultural and character specificity to each that prevents each new version from being a carbon copy of what came before. Peacock’s The Office reboot will look to distinguish itself by unfolding in an entirely different sector. Rather than Dunder Mufflin, the upcoming series unfolds in the world of journalism.

The reboot, which hails from Daniels and Koman, the latter of whom is known for the Nathan Fielder Comedy Central series Nathan for You, will bring back the documentary crew that followed Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch. They’re in search of new documentary subjects when they come across a dying historic Midwestern newspaper. Specifically, they follow the publisher trying to revive it with a group of volunteer reporters. Earlier this year, it was announced that Gleeson and Impacciatore would be part of the reboot’s cast.

Gleeson is well-known for his roles as General Hux in the Star Wars franchise and Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter series, and for appearing in movies such as About Time and Ex Machina. Impacciatore, meanwhile, picked up an Emmy nomination for her performance as Valentina in The White Lotus season 2. The duo were announced as leading an ensemble cast, with production slated to begin in July. However, since then, there haven’t been any new announcements about actors joining The Office reboot.

As far as whether any of the former cast members would reprise their roles, given the shared camera crew connection, one key actor has ruled it out for the time being. Gleeson has actually reached out to Carell about The Office reboot. The two were scene partners on the dark FX thriller series The Patient, so they have a connection. However, Carell noted that he wasn’t interested in reprising the role of Michael Scott, though he did express his support and excitement for the Peacock project. Any other cameos are being kept a secret, if they are happening at all.

Source: Deadline

Key Context

• The Office has 15 different versions, including the new remakes from Australia and Greece.
• The first version, released in 2001 with Ricky Gervais in the lead role, had only 14 episodes.
• Due to the success of the American version, Steve Carell earned $200,000 per episode in the later seasons (via ComingSoon and Parade).