Why Did Steve Carell Leave Show? – Hollywood Life

‘The Office’ was a mockumentary sitcom based mostly on the BBC collection of the identical identify
The NBC present ran from 2005 to 2013 and was a launching pad for many of its inimitable forged, together with star Steve Carell
Steve left the present after Season 7

The sitcom world was hit with heartache when Steve Carell bid adieu to his beloved character Michael Scott on NBC’s The Office again in 2011. As everyone knows, the comedy collection soldiered on for a pair extra seasons, however let’s be actual – it simply wasn’t the identical with out Dunder Mifflin’s quirky and lovable boss.

Steve Carell left ‘The Office’ in 2011. (Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock)

But maintain onto your Dundie Awards! It seems, the rationale behind Steve’s exit might not have been what followers assumed. No, he didn’t sprint off to overcome new appearing or comedy frontiers. According to juicy revelations in a March 2020 ebook entitled The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, the present’s personal crew members alleged that Steve by no means really meant to say goodbye within the first place! What?! Say it ain’t so!

According to sound mixer Brian Wittle and hairstylist Kim Ferry, Steve hinted that his days as Michael Scott is perhaps numbered throughout a BBC interview, citing the looming expiration of his contract after season 7. However, Brian defined that, behind the scenes, he hadn’t made a definitive determination but. As information of Steve’s musings hit the headlines, followers have been hoping NBC would rally to maintain their comedic genius on board. The community’s executives, nonetheless, didn’t prolong the grand gesture wanted to sway Steve’s determination.

“He didn’t want to leave the show,” Kim stated within the ebook. “He had told the network that he was going to sign for another couple of years. He was willing to and his agent was willing to. But for some reason, they didn’t contact him.” Kim went on to say that Steve had “planned on staying on the show” however the deadline got here for when the upper ups have been presupposed to “give him an offer and it passed and they didn’t make him an offer.”

She added, “[Steve] was like, ‘Look, I told them I want to do it. I don’t want to leave. I don’t understand.’ It just is mind-boggling how that happened. And I feel bad because I think a lot of people think he did leave the show on his own merit and it’s absolutely not true. I’m telling you. I was there.”

The concept that Steve was prepared for extra Scranton, PA was additionally given credence by producer Ben Silverman and editor Claire Scanlon throughout their look on the An Oral History of The Office podcast. “When I heard the story of how the network went about its process with him after the fact, it made me so depressed how they had kind of blown something that they could have saved,” stated Silverman, who spearheaded the US remake of the British mockumentary collection and was co-chairman of NBC Entertainment between 2007 – 2009. Scanlon informed the podcast at on the time, “Steve said he would have come back, they didn’t even try!”

‘The Office’ ran from 2005 to 2013. (Everett Collection)

She added, “I feel like NBC dropped the ball, because I knew the story behind it, which was they just never even bothered, which was just like so dumb. I don’t know what was wrong with them.”

But maybe we must always take a gander at what the person, the parable, the legend stated concerning the departure. During an interview on the Office Ladies podcast in March 2023, Steve informed hosts and former Office co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey about why he left the present.

“It was time for other characters to step to the forefront and other storylines to be pursued. I think it was the right… the timing was right, I think for everybody but simultaneously there’s just a sense of joy for me that we had experienced all of this and we were getting… I was getting a chance to take a lap with everybody. And the way those last two episodes were structured, it felt very rich to me to simultaneously be saying goodbye as Michael and us as friends in this moment of work together. But, yeah, it was a lot, it was a very emotional thing.”

Steve Carell stated it was an emotional goodbye when he left ‘The Office.’ (Everett Collection)

By the time Steve bid farewell, The Office was already approaching its closing stretch. The present would proceed for 2 extra seasons. With Steve’s absence on the forefront, subsequent episodes revolved round Andy Bernard’s (Ed Helms) bold journey to grow to be the regional supervisor. It additionally cultivated the memorable Robert California (James Spader), the CEO of the printer firm that owns Dunder Mifflin. However, The Office’s closing episode, initially aired on NBC on May 16, 2013, did certainly characteristic Steve returning as Michael Scott.