The Office follow-up gets series order at Peacock; will revolve around a dying Midwestern newspaper

The Office lives! A follow-up to the acclaimed mockumentary comedy series has officially been given a series order at Peacock, and the first plot details of the new Office show have also been revealed.

The official logline reads: “The documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters.” The untitled follow-up comes from Greg Daniels (The Office) and Michael Koman (Nathan for You) and will star Domhnall Gleeson (Ex-Machina) and Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus). Further members of the ensemble cast will be announced soon as production is expected to kick off in July.

“It’s been more than 10 years since the final episode of The Office aired on NBC, and the acclaimed comedy series continues to gain popularity and build new generations of fans on Peacock,” said Lisa Katz, president of NBCUniversal Entertainment. “In partnership with Universal Television and led by the creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling: a daily newspaper.“

Based on the BBC series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, The Office was a mockumentary sitcom that followed the everyday work lives of the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The series ran on NBC from 2005 to 2013 for a total of nine seasons consisting of 201 episodes. Although the series came to an end over a decade ago, it remains just as popular as ever, especially on streaming services. The series racked up some big numbers on Netflix before it departed for Peacock, with NBCUniversal paying Universal Television $100 million annually for the next five years.

While it may prove difficult to capture that lightning in a bottle once again, I’m willing to give this new series a shot. The setting of a failing daily newspaper has plenty of potential and should provide a different sort of energy from its predecessor. What do you think?