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For years, rumors have swirled about The Office getting remade or rebooted–and now it’s officially happening. This might not be the remake you were waiting for, however.
An Australian version of The Office, officially endorsed by series creator Ricky Gervais, has been ordered to series for Prime Video, according to Variety. Australian comedian Felicity Ward will play the lead character, Hannah Howard, on the show, which is called The Office Australia.
Howard is the boss of the packaging company Flinley Craddick. The British version of The Office starred Gervais as a paper company boss named David Brent. For the American version, Steve Carrell famously portrayed Dundler Mifflin boss Michael Scott.
For The Office Australia, the twist involves COVID. The new boss, Howard, gets word from corporate that her office is closing down and workers are shifting to work-from-home. “She goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep and launches outlandish plots in order to keep her ‘work family’ together,” reads a line from the show’s description.
“I’m very excited about Australia remaking my little show from the turn of the century,” Gervais said. “Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can’t wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent.”
This is actually the 13th version of The Office. There have also been localized versions in Canada, Chile, Israel, and France.
Filming for The Office Australia will begin this June in Sydney. There will be eight episodes in the mini-series. The show is set to debut in 2024 everywhere around the world except the US.
The Office’s Greg Daniels has not given up on rebooting the show in the US, but it’s been some time since there was any news about that. Carell has said rebooting The Office today is a bad idea because the climate has changed.
