Why ‘The Office’ Stars Were Told to “Clean Out Their Trailers” Before Wrapping Up Season 2

Brian Baumgartner, known for his role as accountant Kevin Malone on ‘The Office’, recently shared insights about the show’s early days on Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale’s Glee rewatch podcast, ‘And That’s What You REALLY Missed’. According to Baumgartner, ‘The Office’ had a slow start, and after filming the first six episodes of season 2, the cast was instructed to clean out their trailers.

“We went home, and they were sort of like, ‘Hope we get to do some more [episodes],’ ” Baumgartner recalled. This uncertain period changed drastically as the show’s momentum picked up, largely due to Steve Carell’s rising fame and his Golden Globe win. 

Also Read: Phyllis Smith Shares Hilarious ‘The Office’ Scene That Steve Carell “Couldn’t Get Through”

The network soon greenlit more episodes for the second season, with the holiday episode ‘Christmas Party’ drawing over 10 million viewers when it aired in December. By February, the crew was allowed to complete 22 episodes for season 2, and a third season was ordered.

“That’s when things changed,” Baumgartner noted. “Like, oh, we’re gonna be around for a while.” Reflecting on the show’s whirlwind rise to fame, he described the experience as “nuts,” especially after ‘The Office’ won an Emmy and quickly prepared for shooting season 3.

During the podcast, Baumgartner also shared behind-the-scenes details, revealing that season 1’s six episodes were filmed in a different set, which he described as a “bizarre space off of La Cienega.” He speculated that the original Dunder Mifflin office set was actually the no-frills production office of the building, Culver Studios. Despite concluding in 2013, ‘The Office’ has maintained its popularity, with Nielsen reporting 57.1 billion streaming minutes on Netflix in 2020.

Adding to its legacy, a spin-off set in the same universe as Dunder Mifflin is in the works at NBC, starring Domhnall Gleeson from The Revenant and Sabrina Impacciatore from The White Lotus. According to Lisa Katz, President of NBCUniversal Entertainment, the currently untitled comedy will introduce a new cast of characters in a fresh setting: a daily newspaper, promising rich comedic storytelling.

-Sushmita Sarkar