“The Office” is getting remade — again. It makes Australia the 14th country to recreate the mockumentary sitcom.
Instead of Michael Scott, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly and Dwight K. Schrute, Australia will introduce audiences to Hannah Howard, Nick, Greta and Lizzie.
The official logline for the upcoming Australian version of the sitcom reads, according to CBR: “Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Fliney Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.”
It continues, “The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.”
Fans don’t think the upcoming Australian adaptation of “The Office” has what it takes to stand out against the previous 13 versions.
“This Australian version of The Office is (rightly) getting skewered, but, in its defense, how could it every live up to the masterpiece that is the India version of The Office?” one fan of “The Office” wrote on X.
Another wrote, “Why on Earth would anyone create an Australian version of The Office? We speak the same language as in the US and the UK and the UK original was absolute perfection,” per X.
The Australian version of “The Office” lands on Amazon Prime Video on Oct. 18 in 240 countries — except in the U.S., for now.
‘The Office’ has been redone over a dozen times
The first version of “The Office” came out in the U.K. in 2001, starring comedian Ricky Gervais. It lasted just two seasons. In 2005, the U.S. released the first adaptation of the mockumentary series led by Steve Carrell and Rainn Wilson — it got nine seasons.
Both the U.K. and U.S. versions attracted hoards of fans and praise from critics. “The Office” U.K. took home two Emmy awards (one for each season) and “The Office” U.S. took home five, per the Television Academy.
The series has been adapted 12 more times, with each inserting its own cultural norms and humor into the sitcom.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, here is every country with an original adaptation of “The Office.”
- The United Kingdom
- The United States
- Germany
- France
- Canada
- Chile
- Israel
- Sweden
- Czech Republic
- Finland
- India
- Poland
- Saudi Arabia
- Australia
Is ‘The Office’ still getting revived in the U.S.?
Yes, “The Office” is getting a revival series.
Peacock ordered one season of “The Office” revival, co-created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, as previously reported by The Deseret News. Production on the series started in July. An official premiere date has not been announced.
There are limited details about the cast and plot of the revival, but what we do know is that, “the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters,” according to Peacock, per Deadline.
“In partnership with Universal Television and led by the creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling: a daily newspaper,” Lisa Katz, president of scripted content for NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in a statement, per Deadline.