The Office’s Paul Lieberstein continues his apparent weeklong slumber party at E! headquarters, still hiding under couch forts and talking in hushed whispers about all his secret hopes and dreams for the show’s post-Steve Carell future—a heart’s wish that now includes a possible Office movie. In addition to gently scolding the media for suggesting that the show has any intention of ending in the wake of Carell’s departure—next year or any year—Lieberstein now also suggests that he'd be up for doing an Office feature after the series is done, whenever that may be.
Of course, as with yesterday’s Harvey Keitel “announcement,” this is just more hypothetical talk from Lieberstein, but it’s definitely indicative of his confidence that the show will continue without Carell: “This show is really about office life, which so many people live,” he’s quoted as saying. “And changing it up a little will be welcome to the fans. Steve feels he's played almost everything he can with Michael Scott. There isn't a lot of new territory for him to discover. And if he's feeling that, fans must be, at a certain level, feeling that too—it's an opportunity to reinvent The Office.” We’d say we’re cautiously optimistic that he’ll be able to pull a Hogan Family out of his Valerie here, but it certainly seems like Lieberstein already has enough optimism to spare these days.