Credit: NBCUniversalThere might not be a more universally loved sitcom than The Office. The series initially started in the UK, created by comedian Ricky Gervais. It wasn’t until the US version was released, which starred Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and Rainn Wilson that the show truly became a cultural phenomenon. Many stars are still asked today about a potential reunion or spinoff, though it mostly amounts to most saying no. One of its most beloved stars attempted to get a spinoff going and is now returning donations from that failed attempt.
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The Office in the US became massively huge, resulting in awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in the Daytime Emmys, Peabody Award, named Best TV Series by the American Film Institute in 2006 and 2008.
The ensemble nature of its cast led to these awards and why the show has been regarded as one of the best that TV has ever produced. Steve Carell as Michael Scott is arguably one of the actor’s best performances, simply for how simple-minded and socially awkward Scott could be all at once.
He was joined by a cavalcade of loveable characters like Jim Halpert (John Krasinksi), Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer), and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). The Office helped launch these three actors’ careers, resulting in all three going on to have very successful careers.
Scott, Jim, Pam, and Dwight weren’t the only ones who left audiences in stitches. They were joined by the likes of Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery), Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith), and Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker).
Many of these characters become fan favorites, like Leslie David Baker. Baker portrayed Stanley, the curmudgeon of the office, and one that fans identified with greatly. Baker attempted to get a spinoff of The Office focused on Stanley going back in 2020, which was faced with plenty of adversity. He also received donations for the show but has since returned them to donators.
‘The Office’ Star Leslie David Baker Returns OVer $100,000 in Donations
Leslie David Baker announced back in 2020 that he was launching a Kickstarter for donations to be made for him to get a spinoff of The Office going. The campaign went viral, with over a thousand people donating to get the show done, and the original known total of donations for the spinoff was a staggerin$336,450 from 1,640.
The series would be called “Uncle Stanley” and focus on the beloved Stanley character leaving Florida, where he retired. Stanley would travel to Los Angeles to help his nephew save his motorcycle/flower shop.
Fans began questioning Baker about movement on the show since they donated thousands of dollars over three years ago. Baker revealed that challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic and now the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes had halted the series. Instead of allowing more worry and the idea that he was conning his fans, he returned the entire sum. Baker announced he would be turning the money on his Instagram page.
The original total of $336,450 was hit based on a goal of $300,000 by the time the Kickstarter campaign ended. Baker also announced that the total diminished to $110,629.81. According to Baker’s post:
“FYI, although the total funded amount shown on our Kickstarter campaign page was stated as $336,450.53, that was not the actual final amount we received,” he added. “A large portion of backers’ pledges were lowered, or completely dropped and never collected once the campaign was completed. The final amount that we received from Kickstarter was exactly $110,629.81. The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds, and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account.”
It is excellent that Baker has returned the money to donors for his proposed spinoff for The Office. We imagine this was a great show of good faith and that if he can get the idea going again once the strikes end, people will want to donate again. Stanley is one funniest characters on The Office, and Baker’s idea was quite good already.
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The Office might never be rebooted or have a reunion, but we imagine there could be some spinoffs like Baker’s that could gain some steam in the future.
What do you think of The Office spinoff and Baker returning the donations? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!