Peacock has given The Paper an official release date. The series, which is a follow-up to The Office, will debut on September 4 with four episodes, and will be followed by two episodes every Thursday through September 25.
The official logline states: “The documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it.” The series stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, and Tim Key. Additionally, Oscar Nuñez will reprise his role from The Office. The trailer, which screened at the NBCUniversal upfront presentation, revealed that Oscar is now working as an accountant for the paper, and he wasn’t too pleased to see the documentary crew again.
The Paper comes from Greg Daniels, co-creator of the U.S. version of The Office, and Michael Koman, best known for his work on Nathan For You.
“It’s about this struggling Midwestern newspaper that’s much reduced from its glory days,” Daniels said earlier this year. “A lot of the story lines are about how this guy, Domhnall Gleeson’s character, is trying to restore this paper, and he just doesn’t have the budget for hiring reporters, and he has to use all the staff that work there on a volunteer basis to be reporters. They’re completely untrained and don’t know what they’re doing.” Daniels continued, “It’s a fruitful premise. There’s a tremendous history for local papers. The villain here is the internet and the ability to look at everybody’s news for free, and all the ad revenue going to Google.“
One person who won’t return for The Office follow-up is Steve Carell, who previously said he would be sitting this one out. “I will be watching but I will not be showing up. It’s just a new thing and there’s really no reason for my character [Michael Scott] to show up in something like that,” he said. “But I’m excited about it, it sounds like a great conceit. I love the idea — I guess it’s set in a failing newspaper company.“
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