In an alternative universe, The Office could have taken a completely different trajectory… that is, if HBO hadn’t paid the late James Gandolfini a king’s ransom of $3 million to turn down the rather attractive offer of replacing Steve Carell, after the latter’s departure as Michael Scott in season 7.
The revelation was initially brought to wider attention during an episode of the Talking Sopranos podcast hosted by Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, and featuring guest Ricky Gervais.
Given Gervais was not only the original UK show’s creator, but also the original Michael Scott – or more appropriately, David Brent – as well as the US counterpart’s executive producer, the conversation naturally meandered towards the seminal workplace comedy.
That’s when Imperioli and Schirripa let their guest in on a secret even he wasn’t privy to.
“You know, they talked about having Gandolfini at one point replace [Steve Carell]… did you know that?” said Imperioli, who famously portrayed the fan-favourite Christopher Moltisanti.
“I think before James Spader and after Carell, they offered Jim – I want to say – $4 million to play him for the season, and HBO paid him $3 million not to do it… that’s a fact,” added Schirripa, who was behind the loveable and softspoken Bobby Bacala.
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“Jim was going to do it because he hadn’t worked and it was a number of years removed from when [The Sopranos] ended.”
To which Ricky Gervais replied in jest: “So they paid him that to keep the legacy of The Sopranos pure? Well, that’s a good decision.”
While James Gandolfini didn’t make the transition from mob boss to corporate middle management with The Office, Steve Carell would eventually be replaced by a new Regional Manager of fictitious paper company Dunder Mifflin all the same.
After a brief consideration period involving onscreen appearances from headlining names such as Will Ferrell, the aforementioned James Spader, Jim Carrey, and even a tongue-in-cheek cameo from Ricky Gervais himself, like many real-life talent searches, they decided to promote internally.
Series regular Ed Helms assumed the position of new Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin (Scranton, Pennsylvania branch) as his existing character, Andy Bernard. That was until Helms’ character was replaced by Catherine Tate’s Nellie Bertram – much to both the fandom and critics’ chagrin – before Carell eventually returned for a final, heartwarming surprise cameo during the finale.
That being said, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t even a little bit curious about seeing capo Tony Soprano chopping it up with Rainn Wilson’s loyal-to-a-fault Dwight Schrute.
Now read our one-on-one interview with Michael Imperioli here and The Sopranos creator David Chase here.
