Rainn Wilson Says THE OFFICE Was "Chaotic" to Shoot After Steve Carell Left as He Was the "Comic Engine" of the Show

The Office is one of the best comedy series of all time. It has such great writing and characters that we all grew to love. But it did face a serious bump in the road when its star, Steve Carell, who played boss Michael Scott, left the series in Season 7.

The show went on for two more seasons, with fun in every episode, and a perfect finale, but the two seasons without Carell proved to be much trickier to make than the ones in which he was included.

Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute in the show, explained on the Good Guys podcast:

"When Steve left, then it was a little bit chaotic of trying to figure out the tone of the show and who’s the lead and, how are we telling these stories without, you know, the comic engine of the show, which is Michael Scott, and without one of the greatest comic actors in American history at the center of our show. That was also a struggle."

Carell certainly knows how to make people laugh, and as the center of so many of the show’s storylines, I’m sure it was hard to move forward, especially working in several new actors in his place. They made it work though, and they went out on top.

All seasons of The Office are available to watch on Peacock.