As most of us hardcore Office fans know, next season will be the last season for Steve Carell. When I found out this news, my heart shattered. How could the show possibly go on with out our beloved Michael Scott?!?!? Well the good news is, they are toying around with the idea of bringing Ricky Gervais in to The Office when Carell leaves. As you may or may not know, Ricky played David Brent, the crazy boss in the original UK series. I personally find it to be a brilliant idea and the only plausible way the show could survive.
Executive Producer Paul Lieberstein (aka Toby) says:
"We talked about it today for a while. It's not the leading idea… [but] it's not a dead idea. I don't know how David Brent could take Michael Scott's place because it would be a little bit too much of a coincidence that a documentary crew was also following him. He was also fired for incompetence [in the U.K. Office], so we'd have to create some back story for what happened. There would be some things to deal with. On the flip side, you have someone who's incredibly talented and who has played with a level of realism that's the same as our show. It wouldn't be like we would be taking a character from Cheers, like Norm, and putting him in the show. If Dunder Mifflin needed to replace Michael Scott, they'd consider both internal and external candidates. And we will show them considering both. We'll kind of start [the replacement process] and put it in motion. I don't want Steve to go, and if he decides he wants to stay, I will be very happy with that."
And has for what Gervais had to say:
"As David Brent would say, 'Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt …' As I would say, 'Why would I get up at 6 a.m. five days a week for seven years when I can hire someone else to do that and still get my syndication money?"
With Gervais though you never know if he is being serious or not. I would love to see Carell stay, but if not bring in Gervais. He is absolutely hilarious!
