Rainn Wilson Sheds Light On How ‘The Office’ May Have Handled The Pandemic

Dwight Schrute on The Office

NBC


Millions of people already turned to The Office for comfort prior to the start of the pandemic in 2020, so it’s only natural that the infinitely rewatchable sitcom was one of the programs of choice for people looking to distract themselves while cooped up.

The cast of Parks and Recreation reunited for a virtual special that was released in May of that year, so while we have an idea of what those characters got up to during their time in self-isolation, anyone who was curious about how the employees of the Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton approached things had to use their imagination.

I personally assumed that any episode of The Office that touched on the pandemic would feature Michael Scott channeling his inner Jim Carrey while trying to incorporate quotes from The Mask into every conversation, Andy discovering he’d lost the ability to hit extended acapella notes after getting sick, and Creed repeatedly hinting he was patient zero.

As for Dwight? Well, we now have an idea of how the owner of Schrute Farms would’ve handled things courtesy of the man who played him.

Rainn Wilson addressed that topic during a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show where he said he was confident the writers on The Office could’ve approached the fairly dark topic “in some beautiful ways.”

Wilson—who has previously revealed what he thinks Dwight and Michael would be up to today—specifically addressed the lingering fallout of the pandemic while sharing how his character would’ve approached a return to office initiative, saying:

“He gets the call from corporate to get everyone back in the office and everyone is resistant.

So, one at a time, Dwight has to kidnap every Office cast member and bring them into Dunder Mifflin in some kind of obscure and somewhat inappropriate way.”

Sounds about right.

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Connor Toole is the Deputy Editor at BroBible. He is a New England native who went to Boston College and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Frequently described as "freakishly tall," he once used his 6'10" frame to sneak in the NBA Draft and convince people he was a member of the Utah Jazz.