10 Times TV Actors Thought They Would Be Fired For Sure
6. Ellie Kemper - The Office
Ellie Kemper began appearing on The Office as Dunder Mifflin's new secretary Erin Hanlon in the show's fifth season, with most fans surely assuming she would only be around for a limited, single-season stint.
And Kemper expected the same herself, having originally been contracted for just four episodes at the end of season five. Yet even as her part was extended, Kemper kept fearing the moment she would be let go. She said in an interview with The A.V. Club:
"Originally, the character was written for four episodes, and then they kept her around for two more. Then by the end, I was like, 'It seems they're hinting that this character's going to stay in the show.' So I don't really know how it happened, besides extraordinary good luck and timing... I was just waiting for them to be like, 'And unfortunately, Erin has to go,' but there wasn't any hint of that. I guess that's the fear of any sitcom, or any show, that your character will leave.
In the same interview, which took place after season six had finished airing, Kemper added that she continued to fear being fired even once her role in the ensemble was firmly regimented:
"I do still have a fear of getting fired. Even when I had to leave for a funeral, I was like, 'I shouldn't ask them. I don't want to ask them. I don't want to bring it up. I'm new.' Of course they were, like any human being, very nice and understanding, and they let me go."
Ultimately Kemper ended up sticking around until the show's ninth and final season. That's quite the expanded tenure from a gig originally intended to be just four episodes.