NBC is thinking about rebooting The Office for Peacock, its new streaming service.
While discussing Peacock with Deadline, Bonnie Hammer, NBC Universal’s chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises, said that another edition of The Office is a real possibility. “It is my hope and goal that we do an Office reboot,” Hammer said. “We are having conversations.”
Hammer hinted that a new Office series wouldn’t arrive on Peacock until 2021 at the earliest, which is when NBCUniversal gets the rights to stream the American sitcom from Netflix, its current digital home. The ability to stream The Office, which is one of Netflix’s most popular shows, is being positioned among Peacock’s biggest selling points.
Hammer didn’t offer any clues as to whether a new Office series would be a revival of the original series featuring some of the same cast members, a sequel, or a ground-up reboot. At this early stage, NBCU probably doesn’t know for sure itself.
Still, if a new take on The Office comes to Peacock, it won’t be alone. NBCU has already announced that new versions of Battlestar Galactica, Saved by the Bell, and Punky Brewster are coming to the streaming service. Hammer said that more are likely on their way.
“All of our choices, especially in the beginning, we are doing them strategically so they connect back to our legacy,” Hammer told Deadline. “If something is popping [on Peacock], and it’s ours, you better believe that we are going to be looking at it as a new original.”
In addition to The Office, Peacock’s library will include classic television shows like 30 Rock, Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Saturday Night Live, and Married … With Children, as well as original series like Alec Baldwin’s Dr. Death and an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World led by Demi Moore. Peacock will launch in April 2020.
The Office, itself a reboot of the BBC comedy of the same name, starred Steve Carrell as an inept manager at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and helped launch the careers of Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Mindy Kaling, and many others. The Office ran for nine seasons, and won many awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006.
