Rainn Wilson Says The Office Was “Jaw-Droppingly” Offensive at Times and NBC Missed Out on Dwight Spinoff Series
Rainn Wilson is opening up about the legacy of The Office, both the good and the controversial. During an appearance on The Last Laugh podcast, the actor reflected on how certain episodes pushed boundaries in ways that would make the show impossible to recreate today.
He also revealed how NBC’s decision to pass on his Dwight Schrute spinoff, The Farm, cost the network what he believes could have been a billion-dollar opportunity.
“Listen you know, the Benihana Christmas episode where Michael and Andy draw with a sharpie on one of the Asian women that they’ve brought back to the Christmas party is jaw droppingly kind of horrific.
“And it’s a tricky conversation, you know? They’re clueless and in their cluelessness they’re racist and insensitive, and they’re always saying the wrong thing. And that’s Michael, Dwight and Andy — and Kevin for that matter.
“So it’s a show based around clueless, insensitive, racist, sexist people that kind of mirrors the United States in a lot of ways.”
The actor explained that this edge was part of what made the series so memorable but also acknowledged the limits of what could work now.
“You want to encourage it, because it’s funny as hell and it also kind of skewers a particular American sensibility. But it definitely goes pretty far if you dig deep. Could it happen today? I think it would have to be very, very different if it were made in this environment.”
While The Office has found new life with Peacock’s recent spinoff The Paper, Wilson reminded fans that there was almost another series expanding the universe years ago. His character Dwight nearly headlined The Farm, a planned spinoff that even had a backdoor pilot during the final season. NBC passed on it, a move Wilson thinks was a huge mistake.
“NBC at that time had a new regime that came in and they wanted to do big, bright, flashy, splashy shows that were multi-cams and going back to Friends kind of thing.
“And they were just not interested at all in Office spinoffs at the time. Had they taken The Farm, they’d probably have another billion dollars in the bank. Even now, all the people that have seen The Office 20 times, they’re going to watch The Farm at least once or twice. Would it have been as good as The Office? No. No way. Not even close.
“Would it have been good? Would it have been solid? Would it have been a good solid comedy? Yeah, it would have, and we would’ve done some really cool stuff. And I think they really missed out.”
Wilson also noted how NBC failed to fully realize the value of The Office until long after its original run ended.
“But the the history of The Office in NBC is, they never really got the show. Honestly, it was like five years after the show was over, when all of a sudden it started being watched in the billions of minutes on Netflix, that NBC was like, wait a minute, this is kind of a cash cow. This is actually a really good show and it’s got some legs.”
With The Paper now streaming and fans still endlessly rewatching The Office, Wilson’s words hit hard. NBC may have struck gold once, but according to him, they left even more treasure buried by shelving Dwight’s spinoff.