NEED TO KNOW
The wait is over!
The long-anticipated spinoff of The Office, a.k.a. The Paper, has finally released its first trailer.
The show will follow The Office’s mockumentary format but centers on the Toledo Truth Teller, a struggling local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, which is attempting to get back on its feet with the help of some new volunteer reporters. The comedy series is set to premiere on Sept. 4 on Peacock, the same streaming service that hosts both the U.K. and U.S. versions of The Office.
The show stars Domhnall Gleeson, best known for portraying Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter films and Sabrina Impacciatore, who played Valentina in The White Lotus.
Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
“Several years ago, a documentary crew filmed the story of Dunder Mifflin. Now they’ve found a new subject,” reads onscreen text at the beginning of the trailer.
The trailer begins with Tim Key’s character listing products made from paper in order: “Toilet tissue, toilet seat protectors and local newspapers — and that is in order of quality.”
We then meet Esmeralda (Impacciatore), who gleefully shows off an article she wrote that she is “particularly proud of,” with the camera showing a story titled “You Won’t Believe How Much Ben Affleck Tipped His Limo Driver” on her computer.
Enter Ned (Gleeson), who tells the newsroom, which also includes characters played by Gbemisola Ikumelo and Ramona Young, that he’s their new editor-in-chief.
Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
“Have you read this paper?” Chelsea Frei’s character asks Ned, and he confirms. “How do you think it compares to any other paper?” Without missing a beat, he replies, “It sucks, but we are going to make it better.”
Back in the newsroom, Ned tells Esmeralda he hopes it won’t be “too disruptive to have me come in and sort of shake everything up.”
Esmeralda confidently tells him, “Oh, no, no, no. Don’t be so self-defecating.”
Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
Later, during a staff meeting, Ned asks if anyone has experience writing for a paper before. The feedback isn’t awesome, with Melvin Gregg’s character saying “I’ve tweeted” and Alex Edelman saying he “wrote a paper in junior high” and is “in a group text.”
Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
Despite that, Ned is still optimistic about what his employees will be able to accomplish.
“Seven highly motivated, tenacious Buckeyes are out there hunting for news. You’d be a fool to bet against that,” he tells the documentary crew’s cameras.
The trailer ends with Oscar Nuñez’s Oscar — the lone The Office holdover — noticing the crew filming and getting up from his desk, saying, “Not again, I’m not agreeing to any of this,” and vowing to make the footage unusable, even cursing to prove his point.
Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
Gleeson exclusively told PEOPLE that his lead will be vastly different from what fans of the U.K. and U.S. versions ofThe Office are familiar with.
“I don’t think my character’s like Michael Scott at all. If you’re trying to compete with what Steve [Carell] did or with what Ricky Gervais did, I think it would be a massive mistake,” he told PEOPLE in June.
“They are geniuses who are incredible in loads of different ways,” he continued. “We made a whole new character. And it’s a whole new sort of set up, but I hope people will find a reason to love him as well, just in a different way than they did the guys before.”
Many of The Office’s original cast have already dashed hopes that they will appear in the new series, including Carell and John Krasinski, though both have chimed in to voice their excitement for The Paper and have lent the new cast advice.
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The Paper premieres Sept. 4 on Peacock.