Why did Steve Carell leave The Office?

After Steve Carell left The Office, things were never quite the same around Dunder Mifflin.

Arguably, the character of Michael Scott was very much the heart of the beloved series, defining much of the show’s eternal popularity in the first place. And so, it seemed unthinkable that NBC would or could go on without him. But as we know all too well, that’s exactly what happened.

After Steve Carell’s departure, the show kept going, hiring a plethora of replacement bosses, but the series never fully recovered from the loss of the irreplaceable Michael Scott.

Most people were pretty baffled as to why Steve Carell left The Office in the first place.

For years and years, fans have been wondering why this happened. With every new batch of binges of the show, the question resurfaces. So whether or not we can ever get behind Carell’s bittersweet exit, we can try to make sense of it via the reported reasons the award-winning actor walked out on his now-iconic role.

Fans of the show have more answers now, thanks to Andy Greene’s book of reveals titled The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, released earlier this year. Reportedly, Carell’s decision to leave the hit series had much more to do with network than the show itself.

By season 7, Carell’s contract was almost up. Word was starting to spread that the unthinkable might be happening, especially when the actor stated that it’d “probably” be his last year on the show. So how did “probably” turn into a definitely?

A few crew members who claimed to be close with Carell revealed some insights on his exit in Greene’s book.

Hairstylist Kim Ferry explained:

"Carell was like, ‘Look, I told them I want to do it. I don’t want to leave. I don’t understand.’ It just is mind-boggling how that happened. And I feel bad because I think a lot of people think he did leave the show on his own merit and it’s absolutely not true. I’m telling you. I was there. I was there. He really wanted to stay. And it devastated all of us because he was the heart of our show."

For better or worse, timing did prove to be everything in the end. Apparently, the timing of negotiations for Carell’s contract extension played the biggest role in saying goodbye to his time at Dunder Mifflin. In other words, the decision was mostly out of his hands.