Steve Carell and John Krasinski Surprised ‘The Paper’ Cast on Set

Michael Scott and Jim Halpert are sending well wishes to the future of the paper business… the newspaper business, that is.

Steve Carell and John Krasinski surprised the cast of The Paper on its first day of filming, star Sabrina Impacciatore revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. The Office alumni apparently crashed the set of the spinoff series when filming first kicked off at the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles to wish the cast luck, while Impacciatore, Domhnall Gleeson and Chelsea Frei were together in a makeup trailer.

“No makeup yet. We are very anxious. Like, oh my God, we’re so scared. And then we hear knock, knock,” Impacciatore, 57, said in an interview published on Tuesday, Aug. 26. “Someone enters the trailer, and it’s Steve Carell and John Krasinski!”

“We’re fainting. Like, what? Can you imagine? Isn’t it crazy? The first day of shooting!”

Krasinski, 45, and Carell, 63, were in the area for an entirely different reason, however, as Impacciatore revealed the two actors were filming a commercial for Italian coffee brand Lavazza nearby.

“I thought, this is a blessing. Italian coffee, which is the coffee that I’ve been drinking all my life,” she said, adding that they both wished the cast luck on the latest mockumentary series.

Impacciatore, who told Entertainment Weekly that she first watched The Office leading up to her role as newspaper editor Esmeralda Grand in The Paper, said that she soon became “addicted” to the show. She then encouraged series creator Greg Daniels to tell Carell that she considered him “one of the most incredible artists on this planet,” before securing her own flight from Rome to New York City to see him on Broadway’s Uncle Vanya, which he appeared in from April to June 2024.

“I bought a f—ing flight,” Impacciatore said. “I went to see the show. I went to the green room. I waited for him. He came out. I was shaking. I said, ‘I’m Sabrina! Can you bless me?’ I needed his blessing [for The Paper]! He was the sweetest.”

Impacciatore remembered Carell also being “so warm” and “encouraging” during their initial meeting.

“He said, ‘These people are brilliant. You are going to have the best experience of your life. You’re going to be great.’ “He was giving me confidence,” she added.

“I will never forget that. Never. It was so right to do that.”

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Carell and Krasinski first appeared as Michael Scott and Jim Halpert, respectively, when The Office premiered in 2005.

While Carell departed the NBC sitcom at the end of its seventh season in 2011, Krasinski remained on the show through the series finale in 2013 after nine total seasons.

As for The Paper, the spinoff series — created by Office showrunner Daniels, 62 — follows a dying Midwestern newspaper’s reporters and its publisher’s attempt to revive it. Gleeson, who stars as Ned Sampson (the editor-in-chief of the fictional newspaper at the center of the show), previously recounted his interactions with both Krasinski and Carell.

“He was wonderful,” Gleeson told PEOPLE of Krasinski at the May premiere of Fountain of Youth. “I mean, his big advice that he gave me was to do it.”

“And the same with Steve Carell, another just wonderful actor who I’d worked with before. And their advice was, if it’s Greg Daniels, you should do it because getting to work with him is a treat that not many people get to have,” he added.

Gleeson, who called the new series “really lovely,” also said that the actors’ support was affirming in his decision to take on the role.

“I mean, I like to think I would’ve got there on my own anyway, but certainly if [John] and Steve had been like, ‘Don’t do it, it’s a nightmare,’ I would’ve hightailed it, but they could not have been more positive about it, and I’m delighted I listened to them,” he said.

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The Paper also stars Melvin Gregg, Ramona Young, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Tim Key and The Office veteran Oscar Nuñez. It premieres on Peacock on Sept. 4.