The Office’s Scrapped Spinoff Would Have Continued The Show’s Worst Problem After Michael’s Exit

The Office tried to set up a Dwight-centric spinoff in its final season, but it would’ve just doubled down on the biggest problem the show had after Michael Scott’s departure. The Office really struggled to get back on track after Steve Carell left the cast. It wasn’t just that the ensemble had lost its headlining star, the one who held the entire series together; the writing suffered in those last couple of seasons, too. It wasn’t the same show anymore — it stopped being a grounded, relatable workplace comedy about real everyday situations and devolved into a live-action cartoon.

When a hit TV series is coming to an end, it’s typical for the network to start planning for a spinoff to expand the franchise and keep the profits rolling in. Cheers was followed by Frasier; Breaking Bad was followed by Better Call Saul; Game of Thrones was followed by House of the Dragon. As The Office was wrapping up its final season, the writers snuck in a backdoor pilot for a spinoff centered on Dwight. The spinoff never materialized, but if it did, it would’ve exacerbated the worst part of those final seasons of The Office.

The Office’s “The Farm” Episode Was A Backdoor Pilot For A Dwight Spinoff

The Office Could’ve Had A Spinoff Set At Schrute Farms

Season 9, episode 17, “The Farm,” was conceived as a backdoor pilot for a Dwight spinoff set at Schrute Farms. A backdoor pilot is a pilot episode for a new show that gets covertly aired as an episode of another show. The Cosby Show episode “Hillman,” for example, served as a backdoor pilot for Denise’s spinoff, A Different World. “The Farm” sees Dwight reuniting with his estranged extended family for the funeral of his Aunt Shirley, who left the farm to Dwight and his siblings in her will.

“The Farm” was written and directed by The Office’s former showrunner, Paul Lieberstein, who also plays Toby Flenderson.

At the end of the episode, Dwight invites his brother Jeb and his sister Fannie to move to Scranton and help him run the farm. This ending set up what would’ve been the premise of the show: Jeb and Fannie adjusting to country life and growing closer to Dwight as they all run the farm together. “The Farm” is one of The Office’s worst episodes, so it’s probably for the best that NBC decided not to pick up the spinoff.

A Dwight Spinoff About His Farm Would’ve Made No Sense And Continued An Office Problem

The Office Doubled Down On Its Cartoonish Elements In The Last Two Seasons

Dwight and Jeb sharing a glass of milk while Cammy and Fannie watch in The Office episode "The Farm."

After Carell left The Office, the show doubled down on the weirdness and the nonsensical aspects. With homewreckers, love triangles, and a baby with questionable parentage, The Office’s final seasons had more manufactured drama than a soap opera, and the characters started to become parodies of themselves. Kevin was always the most dim-witted character in the office, but he wasn’t so dangerously stupid that he would kill a turtle and then try to patch it up with random items. What started out as a relatable satire of mundane office work became a cartoon set in an office.

What started out as a relatable satire of mundane office work became a cartoon set in an office.

Dwight wasn’t exempt from The Office’s Flanderization. He tried to ride his bicycle across a tightrope over the parking lot and nearly got himself killed. He spent an entire sales pitch rambling about cat turds. There’s a whole episode where Dwight fills Stanley with tranquilizer darts and throws him down the stairs to get him to a sales call. An entire spinoff set on Dwight’s farm would’ve only continued the biggest problem from the show’s later seasons.

The Office Was Never About Just One Character – It Was About Their Relationships

It’s An Ensemble Show In The Truest Sense

Michael leans on Jim's desk in The Office

A spinoff following any one character from The Office wouldn’t work, because it was never about just one character. It’s an ensemble show in the truest sense; the characters’ relationships are what made it work. Dwight’s character — an eccentric beet farmer/volunteer sheriff’s deputy who’s obsessed with Battlestar Galactica — doesn’t work in a vacuum. What makes him so funny is contrasting his eccentricity with a relatively normal person like Jim or Pam. If you put him in his element on the farm, you lose that comic juxtaposition.