The First Episode of THE PAPER Gives Update on the Fate of THE OFFICE Company Dunder Mifflin
The Office is one of those shows that ran for a long time, garnering a huge fan base, then it wrapped up with dignity and a story that wrapped things up for the beloved characters, and gave fans a pleasing sendoff.
In retrospect, viewers of the series could probably guess that if we visited Dunder Mifflin today, the company probably would not still be up and running.
It was a recurring storyline in the show that in a world that was transitioning from everything on paper to most things digital, a paper company was on the other side of its prime business time.
And now, we have confirmation of Dunder Mifflin’s fate. In the first episode of the spinoff series The Paper, which is set in the same world as The Office, fans are treated to a visit to the building where Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch was located. Building neighbor, Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration (Robert Ray Shafer), who was married to Phyllis on the show, revealed in an interview that the old company has been gone for a while.
Bob said he still keeps in touch with a couple of former employees who, like him, are proud dog owners, but for the most part, the fate of Dunder Mifflin's staff is a mystery. While this feels a little sad, it goes a long way to know that the original series finale is not undone by any of the events in the new show.
In the first episode, it’s explained that in 2019, Dunder Mifflin was bought by Enervate, an Ohio-based company that sells products made of paper, such as toilet tissues, newspapers, and other everyday items we take for granted. More importantly, the employees of Enervate are the subjects of a brand-new documentary about office life, hence the new series, The Paper.
In The Paper, the same documentary crew that filmed The Office turns their cameras on a struggling local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, called the Truth Teller. A new, idealistic editor-in-chief tries to save the paper by recruiting inexperienced volunteer reporters to produce content and keep the publication relevant in the digital age.
All episodes of The Paper season 1 are now available on Peacock.