Why Steve Carell was anxious about being in The Office finale

The Office is really in the midst of a renaissance these days. Even though fans were sad to say goodbye to Steve Carell and the employees at Dunder Mifflin when the series went off the air in 2013, there has been a lot of new content related to the hit comedy that’s come out in recent years.

Not only can fans reminisce about The Office with actresses Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin) and Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) on their podcast Office Ladies, but Kevin Malone actor Brian Baumgartner has also started his own podcast about the show as well.

Brian Baumgartner’s podcast, titled An Oral History of The Office, offers listeners a chance to learn how the American version of the mockumentary comedy was developed. From conception to casting, An Oral History of The Office gives longtime fans an in-depth look at how their favorite paper-pushers came to be.

As reported by PopSugar, Baumgartner’s 12-episode podcast has featured guest appearances from other actors that were on the show. Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, and Angela Kinsey have all dropped in to talk about their days in Scranton.

For episode 11 of the podcast, titled “It’s a Wrap,” Baumgartner spoke with Michael Scott actor Steve Carell and The Office creator Greg Daniels about Carell’s surprise appearance in the series finale.

Longtime fans of the show will recall that Michael Scott left Dunder Mifflin to move to Colorado with Holly (played by Amy Ryan) in the finale of season 7. The podcast revealed that Steve Carell was actually hesitant to return for the season 9 finale!

You can read an excerpt from the interview below:

Brian Baumgartner:

"Greg wanted the finale to be a giant family reunion and any office reunion wouldn’t be complete without Steve Carell. And had that been in the works for a while, between you and Steve, or did you go to him and he immediately said, yes, I’ll come back?"

Greg Daniels:

"Well, I think he was really anxious that it not be all about him. Like he was like, everybody who put in these other two years, this is the end of the show. This is the end of all of their stories. I left this isn’t all about me. So he didn’t want to do too much. Uh, and you know, he had thoughts on how, what would draw him back to the situation. And he really liked the idea of coming back for Dwight’s wedding. Like he thought the character learned something, so he didn’t need self-promotion. At this point, he didn’t need to come back to be on the documentary. He came back for his friend Dwight."

Brian Baumgartner:

"Steve said there had to be a reason."

Steve Carell:

"Because I had told Greg, I just don’t think it’s a good idea because I felt like Michael’s story had definitely ended. And I was reticent about coming back because you guys had two more, really valuable seasons and that was everyone else’s ending. Michael had already had his, so I just didn’t want to, but at the same time, I felt like I should out of respect for all of you guys and out of my love for everybody to, you know, to acknowledge the, uh, the ending of this thing."

It’s really thoughtful that a superstar like Steve Carell would be concerned about taking the attention away from his co-stars.

You can listen to the full episode here. The final episode of the podcast, featuring The Office fan Billie Eilish, will be available next week.