Dakota Johnson, patron saint of 14-hour naps and press tour memes, doesn’t exactly have a reputation for sugarcoating things. This is the woman who stared down Ellen DeGeneres on her own talk show and changed the landscape of daytime television with just one adverb. So, when she stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers to confess that filming the finale of The Office was “the worst time of [her] life,” it wasn’t exactly out of character – but it was surprising. Not just because The Office is one of the most beloved American sitcoms of the 21st century, but because it revealed what fans of long-running TV shows rarely get to see: how awkward and unfunny the farewell lap can be, especially for any guest stars caught in the crossfire of character arcs and emotional burnout.
Dakota Johnson Says ‘The Office’ Finale Was Two Weeks of Weird Vibes
In the two-part finale of The Office, Dakota Johnson shows up as a fresh-faced Dunder Mifflin hire, an accountant named Dakota (no, they didn’t even bother with a fake name) who was brought in by Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to replace Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) after he was fired for being, well, Kevin. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson claimed her character was originally floated as the lead for a potential spin-off series, a plan that quietly died somewhere between the series finale air date and the next year’s pilot season. In theory, it was a neat bit of poetic sitcom symmetry: the old guard out, a new era beginning. In practice, Johnson was a narrative afterthought. “I loved that show so much,” Johnson told Meyers. “And they were like, ‘Do you want to be in the series finale?’ I was like, ‘Of course,’ thinking that I’d show up for like half a day. I was there for two weeks, and I’m barely in the f***ing show.”
But that wasn’t the only disconnect Johnson had to contend with. By the time the actress arrived, the cast had already been together for 10 years, and they were in the throes of an extended, emotionally complicated breakup. “There were weird dynamics, and I’m coming in like, ‘So excited to be here!’ and no one wanted to talk to me. Nobody gave a f**k,” she explained. It’s not hard to see how that could’ve been a tough situation. Dropping into the final days of a beloved sitcom saga where everyone’s navigating a mix of nostalgia, exhaustion, and unresolved tension is a strange job for anyone, even someone as unflappable as Melanie Griffith’s lime-hating prodigy. It’s a reminder that for all the glossy nostalgia surrounding The Office, wrapping up a cultural juggernaut is rarely easy. This makes the critical success of the show’s swan song all the more impressive — wasted cameos excluded.
‘The Office’ Ran Out of Steam When Steve Carell Left
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) yelling in ‘The Office’.
Image via NBC
For all the chaos leading up to it, The Office finale remains one of the most praised sitcom send-offs of the last two decades. Fans still revisit it for the comforting closure, the return of Carell’s Michael Scott – complete with a perfectly-timed “That’s what she said,” zinger – and the satisfying emotional payoff that has eluded so many long-running shows. But getting to that finale required a bumpy and occasionally baffling ninth season. With Carell long gone and a cast that looked more than ready to move on creatively, The Office’s final stretch had the feeling of a welcome overstayed.
The show tried to reinvent itself in plenty of ways. Remember Brian, the boom mic guy who briefly emerged from the background to become an unnecessary wedge in Jim and Pam’s marriage? Or the sudden influx of new faces meant to hint at a future no one really cared to see without mainstays like Jenna Fischer, Craig Robinson, Creed Bratton, Angela Kinsey, and the rest? There were too many characters, not enough stakes, and a palpable sense that the writers were juggling fan service with reboot bait. It all felt uneven, flashes of comedic brilliance that harked back to the Carell-era sandwiched between long stretches that turned Ed Helms into a de facto villain and the Jim-Pam romance into a melodramatic soap opera. Even super-fans could feel the tension between the show’s narrative need to say goodbye and a network’s greed for more.
In a way, Johnson’s uncomfortable experience during The Office finale unintentionally captures the complexity of these late-stage revivals. Her cameo was meant to signal new beginnings, but it ended up highlighting just how difficult it can be to extend a show’s lifespan past its natural end. “I have found that when something is successful, even when there’s nothing left, they just keep trying to wring out the towel of story,” she once told THR. “Sometimes things need to end when they’re supposed to end.” With The Paper, Peacock seems determined to prove there’s still life in the Dunder Mifflin DNA. But fans might rightly ask: Are we watching because we’re excited for what’s next… or because we still miss what’s already gone?
Peacock’s ‘The Paper’ Will Try To Recapture ‘The Office’s Magic
Domhnall Gleeson stands in front of wall signage that reads “Toledo Truth Teller” in The Paper.
Image via Peacock
The Paper promises to pick up the mockumentary format and transplant it into the world of a struggling Midwestern newspaper. Oscar Nuñez serves as the glue from The Office, playing his reliable accountant charged with helping a new ensemble navigate the modern media malaise. In theory, it sounds promising: a familiar tone, fresh setting, a bit of connective tissue for the purists. But in practice, it walks the same tightrope as every legacy series. Is this a meaningful expansion of a beloved universe, or just another attempt to cash in on long-dormant IP?
The Office is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.