Casting The Office If It Was Made In 2026
The Office started as an American remake of the hit British comedy. Though it became iconic, The Office season 1 struggled to establish an identity separate from the U.K. original, and as a result, didn’t get much of an audience.
However, The Office's incredible ensemble cast — almost entirely unknown actors — inspired the writers to give the show its own rhythm and comedy engine. Then the sitcom went on to become so much bigger than the British version ever was. NBC’s The Office ran for nine seasons and 201 episodes.
Every network and streamer wants their own version of The Office, but the synergy that turned such a simple concept into a cultural phenomenon isn’t easy to replicate. With over a decade since we were last in Dunder Mifflin, it’s a fun exercise to imagine what today’s actors could do with the roles.
Tim Robinson As Michael Scott
Originally Played By Steve Carell
Steve Carell’s Michael Scott found himself in season 2, when he became less of a direct copy of Ricky Gervais’ David Brent and more of his own character. Carell was also much less established when he was cast on The Office than Tim Robinson is today, as The 40-Year-Old Virgin came out the same year the show premiered, in 2005.
Robinson could bring his own surreal sensibility to Michael, as he understands the particular comedy of someone desperately trying to maintain control of a social situation while making it catastrophically worse. His characters are often obnoxious or objectively in the wrong, but the insecurity underneath them is easy to recognize.
Detroiters is a perfect example, with Robinson’s Tim Cramblin being an idiot who makes terrible decisions but is also deeply loving and emotionally sincere. That same desperation drives I Think You Should Leave, making Robinson an intriguing fit for Michael.
Alternate: Patton Oswalt
Claudia O’Doherty As Dwight Schrute
Originally Played By Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute is so singular that any recasting risks feeling like an imitation, but gender-bending the role could give a 2026 adaptation a genuinely fresh dynamic. A female Dwight could be just as authoritarian, competitive, socially oblivious, and convinced she is the most competent person in the room, while keeping an intense devotion to workplace hierarchy.
Claudia O’Doherty can play deeply strange without ever seeming like she’s putting on a quirky façade. Her Love character, Bertie, is warm and sweet but socially odd, stubborn, and completely comfortable operating according to her own logic. O’Doherty is also excellent at physical comedy and deadpan reactions. In Killing It, O’Doherty commits completely to her own strange logic without worrying whether anyone else understands it.
Most importantly, she can bring warmth to Dwight. Dwight is a jerk, but he genuinely loves Angela, Jim, Michael, Dunder Mifflin, his coworkers, and eventually his family.
Alternate: Fortune Feimster
Milo Manheim As Jim Halpert
Originally Played By John Krasinski
Jim is one of the hardest roles to cast because he needs to be an everyman who is smug yet likable, occasionally immature but always competent, while also having believable romantic chemistry with Pam. A few older actors come to mind as potential later-season Jims, including Tommy Dewey and Drew Tarver.
However, John Krasinski was only 25 in season 1, making a younger Jim feel more appropriate for a 2026 adaptation. Milo Manheim has already proven himself as a Disney star in Zombies and is set to play Flynn Rider in the upcoming live-action Tangled.
He has the natural charm and charisma needed to make Jim an appealing romantic lead, but his theater and comedy background should also allow him to dial into Jim’s more understated and dry humor. At 25, Manheim is also the exact age Krasinski was when the series premiered.
Alternates: Tommy Dewey, Drew Tarver
Georgie Murphy As Pam Beesly
Originally Played By Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer’s performance worked because Pam was extremely subtle. Her early characterization is shy and uncertain, but Fischer gradually reveals someone dissatisfied with her life and increasingly willing to assert herself. She was never just sweet and pretty; much of the performance came through in her small reactions.
Fischer even approached her audition with restraint, avoiding an overly quirky or comedic interpretation and trusting the character’s quieter qualities to come through. Georgie Murphy has a similar naturalistic instinct. An emerging actor with Stumble and Gen V among her credits, Murphy has the slightly awkward, girl-next-door quality that makes Pam immediately believable without making her bland.
Like Fischer, she has enough personality to keep Pam interesting while not overpowering her, which is essential for a character whose confidence develops gradually. At 25, Murphy is the same age as Milo Manheim and six years younger than Fischer was when The Office season 1 premiered, and Jim and Pam's chemistry is essential to any version of the show.
Alternate: Geraldine Viswanathan
John Hartman As Andy Bernard
Originally Played By Ed Helms
Hartman is still relatively under the radar despite recurring and guest roles on Ghosts, Young Sheldon, The Good Place, Trial & Error, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more. He also came out of Chicago’s Second City, where his work included characters described as “cocky losers,” making him particularly suited to Andy’s specific brand of obnoxiousness.
Hartman has the physical comedy skills to make Andy’s increasingly ridiculous behavior entertaining rather than simply annoying. He could also capture the contradiction at the center of Andy: he desperately wants everyone to like him while genuinely believing he is more impressive than he actually is.
Beneath all that insecurity and self-importance, Andy fundamentally wants to be a good guy, making him the quintessential Michael Scott replacement character. Hartman has the warmth to keep Andy sympathetic even when he is being completely insufferable.
Alternate: Josh Segarra
Eliza Coupe As Angela Martin
Originally Played By Angela Kinsey
Eliza Coupe has a long comedy resume that gives her the exact skill set Angela requires: intense, controlling, judgmental, rigid, sarcastic, and completely committed to whatever ridiculous thing she has decided is important. Her Happy Endings character Jane was famously Type A and controlling, while her Scrubs character Denise was much more sardonic and abrasive.
Coupe also showed in Future Man that she can play an intensely serious, physically committed character without losing the comedy, making her a strong fit for Angela’s tendency to treat her rigid worldview as completely reasonable. Coupe has described obsessive, control-freak tendencies and a sardonic sense of humor as qualities she can access easily as an actor.
That combination would allow her to capture Angela’s judgmental, tightly wound, ultimate cat-lady personality while still making the character funny rather than simply unpleasant. Angela is funniest when her unyielding moral standards and need for control clash with the petty, hypocritical, and often absurd behavior happening around her.
Alternates: Kahyun Kim, Stephanie Hsu, Taylor Misiak
Lil Rel Howery As Stanley Hudson
Originally Played By Leslie David Baker
Lil Rel Howery has the right combination of dryness, impatience, physical presence, and apathy to play Stanley. His comedy is often built around characters reacting to increasingly ridiculous circumstances with a relatively grounded attitude, which is very much in line with the veteran Dunder Mifflin salesman.
His performance in Get Out also showed that he can play deadpan paranoia without turning it into pure cartoonishness, an important quality for Stanley’s more exaggerated moments. Howery would be hilarious delivering Stanley’s blunt one-liners, and his natural comic persona already has that “I’m surrounded by idiots” quality.
He could make Stanley somewhat more animated than Leslie David Baker while keeping the character’s fundamental deadpan. Most importantly, Howery could preserve Stanley’s defining trait: the sense that no matter what is happening in the office, he would much rather be anywhere else.
Hal Cumpston As Kevin Malone
Originally Played By Brian Baumgartner
Hal Cumpston could bring a younger, more physically imposing take on Kevin Malone without simply recreating Brian Baumgartner’s performance. The Australian actor has shown a knack for playing big, goofy characters who are somewhat out of their depth, making him a natural fit for Kevin’s combination of cluelessness, confidence, and unexpected sweetness.
His role in Fox's underrated sitcom Going Dutch shows that he can play an endearingly clueless character who is often an idiot but occasionally demonstrates an unexpected kind of genius. Cumpston’s height and physical presence would also make Kevin’s ridiculous behavior even funnier, particularly when contrasted with his complete lack of self-awareness.
The key is that Kevin isn’t trying to be funny; he genuinely does not understand why other people find him strange. Cumpston could play that innocence sincerely, while still giving Kevin enough personality to avoid becoming a one-note joke. He would make the character feel distinctly different from Baumgartner while preserving Kevin’s essential lovable, dumb-guy energy.
Kristen Schaal As Meredith Palmer
Originally Played By Kate Flannery
Kristen Schaal has the right combination of shamelessness, eccentricity, and deadpan commitment to make Meredith Palmer work in a 2026 version of The Office. Schaal has built much of her comedy career around characters who are completely comfortable being weird, inappropriate, or socially oblivious, which is essential for Meredith.
Her work on Flight of the Conchords, Bob’s Burgers, and Will Forte's The Last Man on Earth demonstrates her ability to find humor in characters who operate according to their own bizarre logic. Like Kate Flannery, Schaal could make Meredith’s outrageous behavior feel completely natural rather than like a series of deliberately shocking jokes.
She could also bring a slightly more heightened physicality to the character, making Meredith’s drinking, flirting, and general disregard for workplace norms even more ridiculous. The result would be a Meredith who is deeply inappropriate but impossible to ignore.
Alternates: Patty Guggenheim, Jenny Slate
Ritu Arya As Kelly Kapoor
Originally Played By Mindy Kaling
Recasting Kelly Kapoor is particularly difficult because Mindy Kaling was not just the actor who played her; she was also a writer on The Office before being cast as Kelly, giving her an unusually deep understanding of the character. Ritu Arya could bring a different but equally chaotic energy to the role.
Her performance as Lila Pitts in The Umbrella Academy demonstrated her ability to play characters who are confident, impulsive, expressive, and completely unpredictable, qualities that would translate well to Kelly’s dramatic reactions and tendency to make every situation about herself. Arya could also capture the insecurity underneath Kelly’s self-absorption, keeping her from becoming merely annoying.
While Kaling’s version was more overtly theatrical, Arya could make Kelly’s combination of confidence, desperation, and lack of self-awareness feel fresh for a 2026 audience. As Kaling became more active behind the scenes, there was less Kelly on screen, so it would be exciting to see what else Dunder Mifflin’s Customer Service rep could get into with more screen time.
Alternates: Laci Mosley, Nicole Byer, Sherry Cola, Ginger Gonzaga
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Greg Daniels
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Michael Scott
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Dwight Schrute
This mockumentary comedy series observes the mundane and humorous daily lives of employees at the Scranton branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It offers insights into office dynamics, personalities, and the eccentric behavior of both management and staff, depicting an ordinary workplace with extraordinary characters.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.