Deadline highlighted the actor’s recent remarks to Fox News Digital, in which he reflected on how the hit comedy might be received today.
Rainn Wilson Reflects on Whether ‘The Office’ Could Exist Today
“I do feel like you couldn’t make ‘The Office’ today,” Wilson said, pointing to the title’s reliance on humor that often pushed social boundaries. “I think that would be too hard to be as politically incorrect as the show was. And I do kind of miss that.”
Wilson portrayed Dwight Schrute throughout the series’ nine-season run, opposite Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. The pair frequently drove storylines built around awkward misunderstandings, misguided workplace behavior, and a lack of self-awareness that became central to the production’s comedic identity.
He recalled that both Dwight and Michael were intentionally written as characters who often failed to recognize how offensive or absurd their actions could be. That dynamic, he said, created opportunities for jokes that audiences embraced at the time. “We milked that for a lot of great, really inappropriate stuff. But even with the fact that painting that character as just an i**ot, I don’t think you could get away with it today.”
Adapted for NBC by Greg Daniels from the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, “The Office” aired from 2005 to 2013 and evolved from a modestly received remake into one of the most influential sitcoms of its era.
The mockumentary comedy helped turn its ensemble cast, including Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, and Craig Robinson, into household names while cementing its place as a lasting staple of television comedy.