The Office Ending with Season 9

Updated with much more info from the press call:

During a conference call today, The Office's executive producer, Greg Daniels, announced that the upcoming Season 9 will be the final year for the NBC series.

Daniels said that "all questions will be answered" as The Office comes to an end, including meeting the documentary crew and finding out who's been filming the Dunder Mifflin crew all this time.

The final season of the show will bring back a lot of familiar faces, according to Daniels. We'll see Roy (David Denman) get married and David Wallace (Andy Buckley) will once again be running Dunder Mifflin. Despite having her own new show on FOX (The Mindy Project), we will see Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor a couple more times.

Of course, it's hard not to wonder if one of those familiar faces might be Michael Scott. Daniels didn't have a definitive answer on whether Steve Carell might guest star, saying, "We would certainly wish for it. We're not going to put so much pressure on Steve by writing something that could only work if he returned. But it would be fantastic if he returned."

Daniels also hopes to bring back some of the show's veteran directors, including Ken Kwapis, who may get the honor of directing the final episode, a neat bookend since he also directed the pilot. Daniels also mentioned that there are some juicy roles the producers are expecting to fill with prominent guest stars and that the fact that this is the last season may lure some talents who have been hoping to work with the show for a while.

Further details on the big surprises coming this season were in short supply, though. Daniels has vowed to keep a lid on the big surprises in store this season, opting to let the audience experience it as it happens rather than reading it online. But for what it's worth, here are some of the tidbits he did share:

* We will finally find out who the Scranton Strangler is!

* Stars Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fisher and John Krasinski have all been promoted to producers this year, and have been involved in the "vision and pitch" of the story.

* Perhaps related to that, Daniels promised it will be a "big year" for Jim and Pam. "The story is not over for them," he said.

* We'll get some "crazy Dwight" stories that the writers have been wanting to do for years.

* Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston was on the set directing an episode. Daniels said he could see him working just outside his window.

A potential spinoff, The Farm, focused on Dwight Schrute and his family, is in development. An upcoming episode of The Office will serve as a backdoor pilot for The Farm, and introduce several new characters, including Dwight's sister, played by Majandra Delfino. The new show will be produced by former Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein. Daniels is not involved in The Farm.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com