Although fans of The Office were holding out for a surprise cameo from Steve Carell in the series finale of the show, creator Greg Daniels has confirmed he will not be in the final episode.
After seven seasons as Michael Scott, Carell left the show in 2011 and intended on making his final episode is definitive final episode.
Daniels explained to Reuters “I think Steve felt, and I agree, that the 'Goodbye, Michael' episode was his goodbye and he didn't want to overshadow the ending that all the other characters deserved.”
Daniels also gave some insight into the finale, saying it actually ended up being “similar” to the British version of the show, which starred Ricky Gervais.
"After attempting to beat that [British] ending in a number of different ways, we ended up doing something very similar," he said. Us Weekly notes the British version’s finale saw the characters reuniting after their new role as reality stars.
He also said, “The network (NBC) is being very creative about scraping some more time without us having to start the finale at a weird time that will cause half the audience to miss the first 10 minutes," adding, "We are still hopeful of getting slightly more than one hour."