Peacock has officially unveiled its next chapter in “The Office” universe: “The Paper”. The mockumentary-style comedy, from The Office co-creator Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, is set to premiere this September, though an exact release date has yet to be confirmed.
“The Paper” Cast, Premise, and Background For “The Office” Spinoff
Announced during NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall, “The Paper” brings the same documentary crew that made the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin a household name to a new location — the struggling offices of a historic Midwestern newspaper called The Toledo Truth-Teller.
Domhnall Gleeson (“The Patient”) stars as Ned, the paper’s idealistic new publisher desperate to revive the outlet’s faded glory despite financial struggles and a dwindling newsroom. Sabrina Impacciatore (“The White Lotus”) plays Esmeralda, the no-nonsense managing editor, while “The Office” original cast member Oscar Nuñez returns as Oscar Martinez — now an accountant at the Truth-Teller and none too thrilled to see the documentary crew again.
A first-look photo released alongside the announcement features Gleeson, Impacciatore, Nuñez, and Gbemisola Ikumelo (“A League of Their Own”), who plays Adelola, one of the newspaper’s quirky staffers. Additional cast members include Chelsea Frei (“The Cleaning Lady”), Melvin Gregg (“Snowfall”), Alex Edelman, Ramona Young (“Never Have I Ever”), and Tim Key (“The Witchfinder”). Guest stars will include Duane Shepard Sr., Allan Havey, Nate Jackson, Mo Welch, Nancy Lenehan, Molly Ephraim, and Tracy Letts.
In a trailer shown at the upfront, viewers got a glimpse of life inside the chaotic newsroom. Oscar’s return brought a mix of nostalgia and awkward tension, while Gleeson’s Ned tries to transform untrained and underqualified staff into a functioning team of reporters. Daniels described the show as focusing on “a struggling Midwestern newspaper that’s much reduced from its glory days,” where staff are pressed into service as volunteer journalists amid a collapsing business model. “The villain here is the internet,” Daniels added, citing the decline of local journalism in the face of free news and advertising losses to tech giants.
Notably, “The Paper” retains much of the creative DNA of The Office. Alongside Daniels and Koman, executive producers include original Office creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein, Ben Silverman, and Banijay Americas. Universal Television is the studio behind the project.
According to Nuñez, his character’s relocation from Scranton to Toledo came after he jokingly told Daniels he envisioned Oscar moving to a more cosmopolitan city. “Greg heard me and moved Oscar to Toledo, Ohio, which has three times the population of Scranton,” Nuñez quipped. “So it’s nice to be heard.”
As fans prepare to return to the beloved mockumentary format, “The Paper” promises a fresh but familiar workplace comedy exploring the fight to save local journalism — one mismanaged article at a time.
