‘The Office’ producer Greg Daniels talks final episodes, confirms that Steve Carell will not be back

The Office showrunner Greg Daniels gave fans a peek at what they should expect from the final episodes of the series, but confirmed that Steve Carell will not be back for one final appearance.

“Steve is very much of the opinion that the 'goodbye Michael' episode and the story arc that we did leading up to it was his goodbye to the fans and to the show, and that the stuff we're doing this season is the goodbye that the rest of the show gets to have,” Daniels said during the show’s panel at the Television Critics Association press tour yesterday, notes The Wrap.

“So at the moment we don't have any plans for him to come back,” he added. “There's still a lot of good things that we have planned for the rest of the goodbyes.”

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak are expected to return and not all of those goodbyes will be squeezed into the final episode.

“If you look at how many characters there are here, and you think that it'll be our 200th half hour when we do the finale, I don't think we're planning on packing everything into the last episode,” Daniels explained. “I would encourage people, if you are waiting for the end of "The Office" to re-tune in, I would start doing it right away.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daniels said that fans will see the end begin as we learn more about the documentary crew that has been filming the Dunder Mifflin employees for nine seasons. “You'll see behind the scenes and who's involved,” he promised.

Later, there will be plenty of drama, which results in someone getting canned. “Someone is fired,” Daniels said. “There’s drama, and someone has to pay for it.”

As for this week’s episode, which airs tonight, Daniels promised that it is “very good” and hinted that the documentary crew will slowly begin creeping in next week.

image: NBC