With “The Office’s” veteran boss Steve Carell gearing up to leave the hit NBC comedy, his co-star, Rainn Wilson, talked with Access about which actors have been approached to take over for Dundler Mifflin’s endearingly awkward leader, Michael Scott.
“I know they’ve been interviewing a lot of people for the position of the boss,” Rainn told Access Hollywood on Friday, at a signing for his new book, “SoulPancake.”
“They reached out to Dame Judi Dench last week, Queen Latifah, Nick Nolte and Ice-T or Ice Cube, I can’t remember,” he joked. “There’s a lot of options out there on the table.”
As for whether Rainn’s character — the power hungry Dwight Schrute — will finally get a chance to take over, the actor says that wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Dwight could never become the boss because he would just fire everybody in the office,” Rainn told Access. “It just wouldn’t work out.
“It would be Episode 1, Season 8 — ‘You’re all fired!’” Rainn laughed, before humming “The Office” theme song. “Roll credits. The end. Goodbye. Goodnight everybody.”
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, two stars of HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” have reportedly been approached to fill Steve’s shoes: Danny McBride and Rhys Darby.
B.J. Novak, who plays former temp Ryan Howard on the show, and is also credited with writing 12 episodes, told the Associated Press that he’s “always been a big believer” in McBride but doesn’t know if the show will be able to get him (due to his schedule).
Rainn’s new book, “SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions,” is available in stores now.
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