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‘The Office’ Spinoff Picked Up By Netflix

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 20:39 PST, Jun 19, 2016

The Office spinoff has been picked up by Netflix after all, according to Deadline. The news was revealed by the show’s star, Ricky Gervais at SiriusXM’s the Opie with Jim Norton Show. And Gervais couldn’t be more happy about it.

And who can blame him? As explained by Gervais himself during his chat with Jim Norton, he would rather “20 million people” see his latest film titled David Brent: Life On The Road, which is his The Office spinoff, than “half a million people” who would watch it in cinemas.

“Because I want to do tours off the back of it. So for me, it’s great.”

In fact, Gervais said that Netflix picking up The Office spinoff is “top secret” news, and of course, the comedian shared it with the world because it was too exciting for him to handle it.

And Gervais is right when he says The Office spinoff will bring him a bigger audience than cinemas would. However, the theatrical release of the film, which was co-financed by the BBC and Entertainment One (eOne), is still happening in U.K., Australia and New Zealand in August. And Netflix will do the job to distribute the spinoff to the rest of the world starting next year.

David Brent: Life On The Road was written and directed by Gervais, and just like his hit show The Office, it’s a mockumentary. This time, Gervais is focusing his attention on David Brent, who works as a manager and pulls off all kinds of stunts on his employees.

David Brent: Life On The Road is centered around the events that take place 15 years after the events shown in The Office. In the spinoff, Gervais’ character still pursues his dreams of becoming a rock star. The last time Brent tried to become one was in 2003’s Christmas Special of the original series.

In his The Office spinoff, Gervais’ character thinks his performance is going to be recorded to make a documentary similar to Martin Scorsese’s chronicling of The Rolling Stones. But instead, his performance is being recorded for a “Where Are They Now?” style production.

However, Netflix has not yet confirmed nor denied its acquisition of The Office spinoff. The original series had only two seasons featuring six episodes each in 2001 and 2002. The series was the precursor to NBC’s remake starring Steve Carell.

If Netflix has indeed bought The Office spinoff, it wouldn’t be the only collaboration between the streaming service and Gervais, as they recently partnered on Special Correspondents, not to mention the comedian’s iconic Derek comedy series.

For those who can’t wait for August’s release of David Brent: Life On The Road and want a dosage of The Office right now, there is this web series that is compared to the comedy show starring Gervais, according to the First Post.

The web series is titled Better Life Foundation, a mockumentary about a condescending philanthropist who believes he does good deeds but in reality he does lots of damage. The web series, which has The Office vibes written all over it, stars Naveen Richard, Sumukhi Suresh, Utsav Chakraborty, Sindhu Sreenivasa and Kanan Gill.

The main star of the web series, Naveen Richard, revealed in his chat with First Post that the show’s format was inspired by The Office.

“We were surprised when people pointed out the resemblance between a scene from The Office where Dwight’s hands are covered in fake blood being compared to Jerry’s bloodied hands in his introductory sequence in the first episode.”

Just like The Office‘s main star, Ricky Gervais, Richard also does stand-up comedy.

[Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images]

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