NEED TO KNOW
Nothing is off limits in the writers’ room of The Paper.
Comedian Alex Edelman, who is both an actor and writer on the series, opens up to PEOPLE about what’s in the works for season 2.
Edelman, who plays Adam, a staffer at the Toledo Truth Teller, says there are some “really fun, amazing” things happening in the writers’ room.
“With those guys, everything’s on the table,” Edelman, 36, says. “So anything can happen on these shows. And so I think audiences are actually gonna be really, really excited and surprised.”
“We have some really interesting new storylines for some characters,” he continues of The Office spinoff. “And I think you’re going to meet people in a way that will sort of open up how you met them in season 1.”
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The Paper follows old-school journalist Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) as he takes over a dying newspaper, The Toledo Truth Teller, and attempts to transform its inexperienced newsroom into a functioning and reputable news outlet.
Along with Edelman and Gleeson, 42, the sitcom also stars Gbemisola Ikumelo, Sabrina Imappaciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Ramona Young and Tim Key.
The people involved in the series both in front of and behind the camera, are “kind of a murderer’s row,” says Edelman. “The cast is unbelievable and the writers are unbelievable, too. That’s the thing that nobody sees. It’s so good.”
The Office star Oscar Nuñez returned to play beloved accountant Oscar in the series, and Edelman previously told PEOPLE that having the actor on set was “really amazing.”
“Oscar did a really good job of being a mentor to us and a really great role model for everybody on set without ever being like, ‘Well, this is how we did it on The Office,'” Edelman said. “He just sort of modeled the behavior really beautifully, and I think a lot of people sort of followed his lead.”
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Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK
Creator Greg Daniels told PEOPLE that he wanted to have Nuñez’s character return, but no other Office alums star, because Oscar’s story “didn’t have as much arc to it.”
“I didn’t feel bad about involving him because most of the other characters, I feel like they had a really good ending at the finale, and I didn’t want to open that up and risk messing up the original show,” he explained.
He felt like Oscar “had that ability to have more juice and more stories about him that you were curious about, without harming things.”
The Paper season 1 is streaming on Peacock.
