The Truth About The Trouble James Spader Brought To The Office

In Andy Greene's new book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History, audiences first learn how Spader got the gig. As Carell prepared to leave the show, everybody wondered who would step into Michael's shoes. In the season 7 episode "Search Committee," plenty of famous faces seemed like possible options, including Jim Carrey, Will Arnett, Ray Romano, and Catherine Tate. According to Greene's interviews, however, Spader was the obvious audience favorite. As Greene writes, "He played the Robert California character as a suave, cocksure mystery man, almost as if Don Draper from Mad Men had an evil twin. Even critics who felt The Office had jumped the shark by that point were impressed."

In just one scene, Spader made such a huge impression that he was offered a role, in a move that, according to executive producer Ben Silverman, was an idea pushed by NBC executive Bob Greenblatt. As far as the writers and cast were concerned, it seemed like a good idea. Writer Danny Chun recalled, "It's completely possible that Greenblatt pushed Spader early on in the process, but I remember us being really sort of taken by the energy that he brought that was just so different than anyone else's energy on the show. And I think we felt like there's something very interesting about this really really specific, strange character. We were kind of drawn to exploring that a little bit more." After negotiations with Spader, he was set to appear in season 8, but it went downhill from there.