‘The Paper’ Season 2 Showrunners Reveal the ‘Office’ Reunion Scene They Cut
Tania Hussain is an Executive Editor at Collider responsible for creative, editorial, and managerial duties. In addition to leading content ideation and development, she works to generate innovative and compelling ideas for feature articles and reviews with her editorial team across Features, Lists, Reviews, and Interviews. She also serves as the primary editor overseeing Collider’s Signature Series profiles, spotlighting some of the most influential voices in film and television. Tania has helped cover and ideate content for major events for Collider, including the Toronto International Film Festival. She has also conducted more than 100 interviews since her start in the business more than 15 years ago. Some favorites include Joel McHale, Charlie Cox, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Kate Winslet, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky, Jamie Dornan, Yeardley Smith, Rafe Spall, Esther Smith, and a reasonable toss-up between Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog. She has covered set visits, in-person junkets, and red carpets for several films and TV shows, including most recently, The Sheep Detectives, Masterchef, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Editor’s Note: The following contains full spoilers for Season 2 of ‘The Paper’
Summary
- In an interview with Collider, Greg Daniels and Michael Koman break down The Paper Season 2’s biggest character arcs, including what is next for Ned and Mare after that surprising finale.
- Daniels reveals a larger Office connection was cut because it risked overshadowing The Paper.
- The showrunners also explain Nicole’s spiral and how Season 2’s guest stars came together
The Paper may have started as a spin-off of The Office, but by Season 2 of the Peacock sitcom, the staff at Ohio’s local newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller, has plenty of problems of its own. For starters, Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) spends much of the season searching for a big “journalistic crusade” while trying to keep his relationship with Mare (Chelsea Frei) from becoming another workplace story. Naturally, it does — and Mare eventually leaves for the Cincinnati Chronicle.
But as the season progresses, Ned’s Glass Club investigation becomes the one story that could bring her back. As co-creator Greg Daniels tells Collider, Ned is “trying to juggle both his romance and his obligations to the paper.” Meanwhile, his creative partner Michael Koman says the writers always try to “combine a newspaper story with an emotional story.”
But even as The Paper builds out its own newsroom and gives us another glimpse of local journalism in a bigger city through Mare’s eyes, The Office is never very far behind. Season 2 continues Oscar’s (Oscar Nuñez) little check-ins with Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), where Daniels reveals there was originally a much bigger connection to the original series that ultimately never made it to screen. So, how do Daniels and Koman decide when to lean into The Office and when to pull back?
In an exclusive conversation about Season 2, Collider spoke with Daniels and Koman about balancing The Paper with its Office roots, why Ned ultimately gives away the story he spent all season chasing, what is really going on with Nicole (Ramona Young) after Season 1’s breakup with Detrick (Melvin Gregg), the Office connection that almost happened, and how a character written as a “Jon Lovitz-type” ended up being played by Jon Lovitz himself.
‘The Paper’ Season 2 Turns Ned’s Biggest Story Into a Love Story
“Our goal is always to combine a newspaper story with an emotional story.”
COLLIDER: Ned spends most of the season searching for this big journalistic crusade, only for the Glass Club investigation to ultimately become Mare’s story. What interested you about having Ned finally make the choice he’s been chasing, only to give that choice away to someone he loves?
GREG DANIELS: Well, there is a shape of it from a romantic standpoint of him trying to juggle both his romance and his obligations to the paper and trying to show off with the crusade and having it blow up in his face and having him have to suffer the loss of Mare to another paper and then redeem himself through winning her respect back. So that was sort of a shape for the season.
MICHAEL KOMAN: Our goal is always to combine a newspaper story with an emotional story, and the show is following what's happening between these people. So, to know how much work Ned has put in over the course of the season to what ultimately becomes his article about the Glass Club, and for him to be able to give that to Mare in a way, or to at least make sure that she was included in that, to me, these are the two things that are the most special to him: to have a piece of journalism that the paper can actually be proud of and to do it with this person, who is so meaningful to him.
Domhnall [Gleeson] did say he feels like he wanted to have a throuple [laughs], like Ned wants to have the paper and then Mare and him all co-exist.
KOMAN: I think it was really hard for him all season to balance these things. I think he thought it would be easy, and I think he was trying to find some way at the end to create some kind of balance.
Daniels Explains Nicole’s Season 2 Breakdown in ‘The Paper’
“She’s someone who’s trying to plan her life… and she finds out that you can’t do that.”
I do have to ask about Nicole, because she has one of the wildest trajectories this season. She loses her best friend, Mare, things fall apart between her and Detrick, and then she becomes fixated on Lisa. What is actually happening underneath all that for Nicole? Is that meant to be her hitting rock bottom, or maybe losing control of things, or trying to create control for herself?
DANIELS: I think what happened was it's sort of rooted in Season 1, where she entered into a relationship with Detrick and told herself that she had no feelings for him, and dumped him, and then realized afterwards that she had a lot of feelings for him, and she hadn’t been aware of them. I think that she's just kind of processing that. She's also trying to do well at work and get out from under Esmeralda’s thumb, and at one point she's successfully doing that, and then she isn’t.
KOMAN: I think she's someone who’s trying to plan her life and by controlling her emotions if they're inconvenient for her, and she finds out that you can't do that.
‘The Paper’ Season 2 Nearly Featured an Even Bigger ‘Office’ Reunion
“We kind of like these little Easter eggs that just remind you of it without trying to take over.”
I do love that Oscar also keeps checking in with Kevin throughout the season. I'm wondering, was that always intended as a little connective tissue back to his world, and would we ever maybe see Kevin visit Ohio? I know he's a bartender, but he travels. I'm sure he does.
DANIELS: It's interesting, at one point, we had a whole scene where Oscar is on the phone. They call him for help, and it's over the weekend, and he's like, “I'm sorry. I'm halfway to Pennsylvania.” And he turns around, and he's met Angela and Kevin for a little birthday party at a restaurant. I don't know, it just felt kind of unnecessary to the story, like it would grab too much attention. So, we kind of like these little Easter eggs that just remind you of it without trying to take over, kind of.
How ‘The Paper’ Season 2 Landed Jon Lovitz, Andy Richter and Andy Daly
“Why don’t we get the real Jon Lovitz? Let’s not fool around.”
I'm wondering also, when you bring in comedians like Lisa Gilroy, Andy Richter or Andy Daly — my two favorite Andys, by the way, so I was so happy — and then Jon Lovitz into this world, are you writing with them in mind, or do you guys create these characters, and then you just have them come to mind?
KOMAN: I think it's a situation where you are writing with them in mind, not necessarily knowing that you would get them, but you think of a character first, you're talking about why that character would be interesting or funny, and then inevitably you bring up, so people can get a picture in their mind. I do know that Jon Lovitz was the picture that we brought up that was written in the script: “Jon Lovitz-type.”
DANIELS: Yeah, “Jon Lovitz-type” was what we did. I worked with him on Saturday Night Live, and so I know how funny he can be. Then at some point, we were just like, “Well, why don't we get the real Jon Lovitz? Let's not fool around.” It was great. That was the same with Andy Richter. And then Andy Daly, we both loved, and he had tried out for Ken's role that Tim Key plays, and so we were like, “Aw, can't get two. You can't have everybody. We got Tim, and Tim’s amazing. Maybe we'll find a way to work Andy in,” and then he came in.
KOMAN: Working on a television show is fun anyway, but one of the things that's the most fun is when you can write with a person in mind and then get to stand there and hear their actual voice saying it. It’s very satisfying.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.