The Office To Get Dwight Schrute Spin-off Series in 2013
NBC are developing a new spin-off 'family comedy' sitcom that would follow Dwight's attempts to run a bed-and-breakfast business at his beet farm.
With The Office not yet renewed for another season, Ricky Gervais has to secure that he continues making more money from his concept somehow! NBC are developing a new spin-off 'family comedy' sitcom that would follow paper salesman Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) attempts to run a bed-and-breakfast business at his beet farm. Deadline broke the news and say; "At its base it will be about a family farm struggling to survive and a family trying to stay together and will follow Dwight's relation to his many cousins and rural Pennsylvania neighbors. A mid season 2013 launch is being eyed. It sounds somewhat like an American version of Fawlty Towers (which there has already been a real remake and boy was that something) mixed with Frasier (a spin-off from Cheers that moved to a family sitcom locale) and will overseen by Paul Liberstein (who plays Toby in the show and is a producer) as showrunner. Deadline say this show was Liberstein/Wilson brainchild after filming an episode that is to air this season at Schrute Farms but is an idea they have talked about for years. Greg Daniels, the showrunner of The Office, will not be involved as he works on Parks and Recreation and other shows. No other Office universe cast members have been announced for the show yet (including Dwigh's cousin Mose who is played by Mike Schur, co-creator of Parks) but the timing is particularly interesting as the likes of John Krasinski, Ed Helms and Mindy Kaling are not contracted to any more episodes of the show beyond this eighth season and are busy with their careers on other things. Nobody is expecting the end of The Office to come this season but it is strange they are talking about a spin-off that would mean one of their major cast members (in fact he has had top billing since Steve Carell left) departing to work on another show when the future of other top stars are in doubt. Deadline say if the sitcom goes ahead Wilson would be around for the first half of the next season of The Office before leaving for the spin-off. The seeds of this have been seen in recent episodes with Dwight acting unhappy with not getting the promotion Andy (Helms) got after Michael (Carell) left, and in a recent episode travelling to Tallahassee to interview with boss Robert California (James Spader) for a position there. This of course isn't the first time an Office spin-off has been attempted. Back in 2007 the idea was to spin-off The Office with a show set in a Government Office that would follow Rashida Jones's character from The Office and others. In the end that show turned into Parks & Recreation, a show not officially tied to The Office and starring brand new characters.