Jenna Fischer told the Hollywood Reporter that claims of The Office departures have been exaggerated. She explained:
“The whole cast, I’m talking about everybody – Ed [Helms], John [Krasinski], me, everyone is wanting to come back. So it’s really just a matter of NBC pulling the trigger. They have to announce it by May 15 when the upfronts happen, right? So we’re all just waiting. We’re really excited to come back, everybody wants to come back. I know Rainn does have his show, but he’s going to come back to The Office as well, so yeah, we’re just waiting.â€
Coming after rumors of troubled negotiations and possible reboots, it’s hard to know what to make of this statement. It seems nearly political; like an attempt to put pressure on NBC to close those deals. As I argued a couple weeks ago, I believe the best thing for the show is to cut loose the leads, like Jim and Pam, who already have completed story arcs, so I find this news particularly troubling. Man, if they bring everyone back AND reboot the thing, we should mail rotten beets to the NBC offices, as to say, this idea is rotten and we are going to beat you up.