The Paper Season 3’s Story Teased By Creators & Star After Ned’s Confession

Published Sep 13, 2026, 12:26 PM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. 

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for The Paper season 3.The Paper season 3 will look different after Ned Sampson's confession.

Domhnall Gleeson plays the editor-in-chief of the Toledo Truth Teller. In the season 2 finale of The Office spinoff series, he encourages Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei) to return home for the good of their newspaper, and not because of any romantic feelings for her. However, he later confesses to the cameras that he is in love with Mare and knew it from the moment she came into his hospital room earlier in the finale. Despite this cliffhanger, the sitcom has not been officially renewed yet.

In an interview with Gold Derby, The Paper co-creators and co-showrunners Greg Daniels and Michael Koman are optimistic about a renewal and tease that season 3 will see Ned attempting to prioritize "a perfect version" of the Toledo Truth Teller over his own feelings, but that he may not have the self-control to do so. Check out their comments below:

Greg Daniels: That's a measure of our confidence. I think we would get a Season 3, because you wouldn't want to necessarily leave the characters in that position! We thought that was a nice Act 2 break, and the sort of setback you're hoping gets fixed next season.

Michael Koman: The entire season has been about Ned trying to balance the two things he's passionate about and managed poorly. So he's going to challenge himself to see if he can behave in a way that allows the perfect version of the paper to exist. But I don't know if he has that kind of self-control.

Gleeson shared that he was happy Ned's confession was not used as a way to convince Mare to come back to Toledo. This is why the admission of his feelings is saved for the documentary cameras, and while talking to her, he prioritizes his selfless belief that the Truth Teller is a better fit for her professionally and that Toledo needs her more than Cincinnati. For now, Ned is focused on the greater good, but Gleeson notes that may backfire on his character in season 3.

Domhnall Gleeson: My worry was that it would be something he does to bring Mare back. I wanted to present it in a way where the audience understands that he is selfless — he really thinks that they can make Toledo better together, and that Mare can have a better career here than she can in Cincinnati.

That speech is about him trying to do something for the greater good. Which he tries to do a lot and it often bites him in the ass! That's probably where that's headed, but I do think he's crazy about her. He also understands that her decisions are her decisions.

After a season of balancing the newspaper and his relationship with Mare, and realizing that he cannot effectively do both, he has chosen the former, but it's already clear that this won't last for long. She has not agreed to return yet, but it seems likely that she will, and after working closely together again, it is probably only a matter of time before Ned is no longer able to keep his confession to himself.

They aren't the only potential couple heading into season 3, as attraction grows between Adelola Olofin (Gbemisola Ikumelo) and Travis (Eric Rahill) after their tornado chasing, and despite their choices this season, there appears to still be something between Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg) and Nicole Lee (Ramona Young).

In terms of whether there will be a season 3, the early streaming success is promising, as the show remains number one on Peacock four days after all episodes of the new season were released. In ScreenRant's The Paper season 2 review, Ben Gibbons gave it a perfect 10/10 score: "The Paper season 2 is a genuine pleasure to watch, and it continues to add surprise and delight throughout the season as each of these characters burrow their way into our hearts and become sitcom icons in real time."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an 80% critics' score based on 20 reviews, only slightly lower than season 1's 85% score. The score for season 2 of the spinoff is higher than several of The Office's seasons, including 71% for season 1, 73% for season 6, 44% for season 8, and 78% for season 9. The spinoff's overall 82% critics' score is also higher than The Office's 81%.

Show/Season	Tomatometer Score
The Paper season 1	85%
The Paper season 2	80%
The Office season 1	73%
The Office season 2	100%
The Office season 3	100%
The Office season 4	84%
The Office season 5	100%
The Office season 6	73%
The Office season 7	83%
The Office season 8	44%
The Office season 9	78%

Along with Gleeson, Frei, Ikumelo, Rahill, Gregg, and Young, other members of The Paper cast include Óscar Núñez as Oscar Martinez, Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda Grand, Alex Edelman as Alex Cooper, Allan Havey as Marv Putnam, and Tim Key as Ken Davies.

All episodes of The Paper seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Peacock.

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  Domhnall Gleeson

  Ned Sampson

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  Sabrina Impacciatore

  Esmeralda Grand