10 Iconic TV Characters Only ONE Actor Could Play

10. Michael Scott - The Office

When an American remake of The Office was first announced, fans were intensely skeptical that it would be anything but a sanitised facsimile of Ricky Gervais' thorny workplace mockumentary sitcom.

Yet after a slightly iffy first season in which it hewed too closely to its British predecessor, The Office U.S. branched off to become its own terrifically entertaining beast.

This was in large part due to the phenomenal central performance from Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the buffoonish regional manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton office.

There's a reason why everyone winces whenever other actors considered for Michael are even mentioned - notably, Bob Odenkirk, Alan Tudyk, and Nick Offerman - because as talented as they all are, Steve Carell is Michael Scott.

The part requires an actor with the ability to delicately balance clownery against earnestness, and ensure that while we cringe at much of Michael's antics throughout the series, he also comes off as a genuinely decent - if flawed - person with his heart usually in the right place.

Though Carell never won an Emmy for his performance despite receiving six Best Actor nominations, his sublime work ensured Michael Scott entered the pantheon of all-time great TV characters regardless.