If you’re a fan of “The Office,” you know that after Steve Carell left the series, the show found it difficult to replace him, often relying on guest stars to help carry the load. Well, eventually, the show landed on James Spader to guest star in a string of episodes, but before that, according to the hosts of the Talking Sopranos podcast, James Gandolfini was in line to appear. However, HBO wasn’t going to let that happen.
According to actors Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, who host the ‘Sopranos’ podcast, James Gandolfini was offered $4 million to star in one season of “The Office” to take over for Steve Carell as the new boss of Dunder Mifflin. The actors revealed this tidbit because they had Ricky Gervais on the podcast and Gervais is one of the co-creators of “The Office” in the UK before it was translated to American audiences.
“You know, they talked about having Gandolfini at one point replace [Carell] — did you know that?” Imperioli asked (via Insider).
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“I think before James Spader and after [Steve] Carell, they offered [Gandolfini], I want to say, $4 million to play him for the season — and HBO paid him $3 million not to do it,” Schirripa added. “That’s a fact.”
Obviously, there’s probably good reason why HBO wouldn’t want Gandolfini to not do “The Office.” As the star of “The Sopranos,” Gandolfini had become the biggest name in mafia-based media, portraying him as this tough guy crime boss. You would have to assume the folks at “The Office” would have played with that characterization and maybe even parodied it. Or perhaps, as is also speculated in the podcast, HBO wanted to keep Gandolfini around for “The Night Of,” which he was attached to at the time of his death? For now, the reasons are unclear.
As mentioned above, the role would eventually go to James Spader, who would play Robert California on the series.