John Krasinski has revealed Steve Carell’s surprise cameo in ‘The Office’s finale was kept a secret from most of the cast.
John Krasinki has revealed Steve Carell’s surprise cameo in The Office’s finale was kept a secret from the cast
The 44-year-old actor had not seen his co-star, 61, since his departure from the programme in 2011, so was delighted when he reprised his role as Michael Scott for the final episode two years later, but writer Greg Daniels had only told him, Rainn Wilson, 58, and Jenna Fischer, 50, that their pal was coming back.
During an appearance on the ‘Office Ladies’ podcast - which is hosted by his sitcom co-stars Jenna and Angela Kinsey, 52, John said: “The whole Steve reveal was kind of a big reveal for us, too. Like his appearance was huge.”
Jenna added she, Rainn and John were pulled aside by Greg and were told about the surprise appearance, which left the actress “so scared” to hold onto such a big secret.
She said: “He told us very close to when it was gonna happen. He, I think he got you, me and Rainn [Wilson] aside, John, and he told us a couple days before, but then we — he swore us to secrecy.”
The cast recalled how there had been a lot of uncertainty about the possibility of Steve returning for the finale because of his other working commitments.
John - who played Jim Halpert on the beloved NBC mockumentary series - had kicked off the discussion when he said: “Guys, do you remember? Again, maybe I'm remembering wrong because I'm 98 years old, but do you remember that we — Greg [Daniels] hadn't talked to Steve officially about the end. Do you remember this?
“[Greg] had thrown it out to Steve in the beginning. Am I remembering this right? And then as we got closer to the end, it was like, so is Steve gonna [do it?] And I remember he was shooting something.”
The 'IF' filmmaker added Gregg was too “nice” to pressure Steve into agreeing to the cameo, because the writer knew the actor was busy with other projects at the time, like ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’.
He continued: “It wasn't like he didn't want to do it. It was just like scheduling and all that.”
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