In a statement about the “immediate career highlight” of getting to work on a single-camera comedy with Steve Carell, series creators Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses summed up how a lot of us are probably feeling upon hearing the news: “Nothing can go wrong now.” While we sincerely hope they didn’t jinx anything with that, it’s hard not to get swept up in their optimism. It’s been a while since the Office star did a half-hour sitcom—well, at least a really memorable one. This is a good day!
According to Variety, the still-untitled series will be “set on a college campus, centering on an author’s complicated relationship with his daughter.” The 10-episode order was granted by HBO, which opens up a whole new world of potential “that’s what she said” jokes. We’re not sure yet what sort of author Carell will play—if he’s on a college campus, he’ll probably be slightly more serious than his middle-manager counterpart—but you never know!
Whichever end of the spectrum this character lands on, he has a great team behind him. Bill Lawrence is, of course, the creator of Scrubs as well as the co-creator of multiple other series such as Ted Lasso, Shrinking, and Cougar Town. Tarses has also worked as a producer on shows like Scrubs, Atypical, The Goldbergs, and the upcoming Bad Monkey. They co-wrote the first episode of the new series and will serve as its executive producers (along with Carell).
Since The Office, Carell has starred in a few more serious shows like The Patient and The Morning Show, as well as one sitcom called Space Force that got mixed reviews (we gave its first season a B) and was canceled by Netflix after two seasons back in 2022. He’s also set to star in a new Netflix comedy called The Four Seasons, where he’ll play opposite Tina Fey. That series is adapted from the 1981 film of the same name about three couples taking vacations together until one of them throws everything into chaos when he leaves his wife. He notably won’t be in the upcoming Office spin-off from Greg Daniels, which finally got the green light from Peacock earlier this month. As of right now, the series is set to follow a “dying historic Midwestern newspaper,” with Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore as its stars.