The office gets a spin off in The Paper

The Paper is finally here, and despite being a spinoff of the popular sitcom The Office, the new Peacock series stands on its own.

Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, the series follows “the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch in The Office as they find a new subject when they discover a historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it.”

Domhnall Gleeson as Ned Sampson, Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda Grand, Chelsea Frei as Mare Pritti, Melvin Gregg as Detrick Moore, Ramona Young as Nicole Lee, Alex Edelman as Adam Cooper, and Gbemisola Ikumelo as Adelola Olofin. Oscar Nuñez reprises his role as Oscar Martinez.

Some cast members disclosed that they were more enthusiastic about participating in a new project than about maintaining the legacy of the original series, despite the fact that The Paper followed the success of The Office 20 years later.

“I was confident that I could create a character that I was confident in, a character that I could create, so much that I wasn’t worried about it being comparable to another character,” Gregg told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “Because people are different, you know what I mean? Like, you can be great and not take away from somebody else’s greatness. So as long as I could create a character that was well thought out, nuanced, authentic [and] genuine, I was confident that I could do my part in making this show great — and especially being surrounded by so many people that are just as, if not more, proficient at getting their job done.”

Young added, “I think throughout the process, we were very reassured that this was gonna be its own thing, and the characters are all new, and the dynamics and the stories were all gonna be new. So, I kind of just rested on that knowledge.”

When Ikumelo was given the chance to work on scripts for The Paper and portray Adelola, she was initially apprehensive about getting to know her character. However, Ikumelo expressed an overall sense of enthusiasm regarding her potential contributions to the program.

“At first, I really struggled with that sort of dynamic for advocating for my character as an actor, but also writing for the wider show,” Ikumelo said. “I didn’t want to feel like I was kind of just focused on my character, in that I really wanted to bring story ideas for everything. Then, I think at some point, I felt like, ‘Oh, I think I’ve actually done the opposite, and not really spent much time with my character at all. So quite late in the day, I went away and wrote a sort of big old Bible for her, and I remember presenting it to the team, and to Greg at some point, and Koman, and they were like, ‘Oh my God, I love this.’ And she went from a sort of straight-laced, ‘I want to be the best in the office’ kind of character, to be a bit more … she’s a bit of a burnout, and her clothes went from quite beige to just sort of big boots and just hair. And I love that change and that the guys were so open to pivoting in that way. I felt really seen.”

Oscar Martinez, played by Nuñez, and Adam Cooper, played by Edelman, are her cubicle partners. Edelman observed that Adelola, the character of Ikumelo, frequently influences his own.

“That unlocked my character,” Edelman said. “My character is a bit of a doof because I thought that would be the most annoying thing for her character to sit next to, and so and so. The truth is that it’s quite cute and funny, but when you think about it, that is how writers’ rooms should work. One person does something, another person goes ‘That’s great. Let’s try to add …’ And so, I think, for me, I was like, ‘What’s the thing that’s going to be really useful within the world of the show? What’s the space that’d be really funny to play that’s not quite played anywhere else?’ We wound up becoming a really fun trio. This accounting department became a really nice, unique corner of the office, and interacted really well with other characters, like Travis, who’s played by Eric Rahill, or the people in the Softies, or Melvin Gregg’s Detrick.”

Nuñez, a veteran of The Office, expressed his confidence in creator Greg Daniels when queried about his decision to reprise his role as Oscar in a different context.

“I knew I was in good hands, and I’m like, ‘What are you thinking?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t know, but I have a thought about a paper and I don’t know.’ Then, after a while, he’s like, ‘Come meet the writers. We have a writer’s room,’ and he likes to walk and talk, and we’re walking and talking, and he’s like, ‘Oh, we’re thinking about [the] cast,’ and that was just the beginning of it. From there, it just got better and better, and here we are, I can’t believe we’re promoting this.”

The Paper first season is currently available on Peacock. The show has already been renewed for season 2.