Dunder Mifflin’s 9-to-5 shenanigans may have retired years ago, but recently much of the cast of The Office reunited to sell ASMR pillows for an AT&T Business ad campaign. When CinemaBlend spoke to Rainn Wilson and Craig Robinson about “getting the old band back together” for the series of commercials, the conversation turned to a sweet idea from Robinson about how he’d like to reprise his beloved role of Darryl Philbin.
In the AT&T Business campaign, Wilson and Robinson are joined by Jenna Fischer, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, and Creed Bratton. In the series of commercials, The Office actors are all involved in selling “Sleep With Rain” pillows, which are pillows with speakers that emanate the calming sounds of Wilson’s voice. Check out the fun commercial:
During our interview on the campaign, I asked the pair of comedic actors if they ever considered doing the commercials as their The Office characters. Here’s the conversation that followed:
Rainn Wilson: “No, and it's a weird thing too 'cause I mean, I don't think any of us would wanna play those characters really, maybe even ever again. But, at the same time, like we don't own those characters. NBC owns those characters. So even if we wanted to…”
Craig Robinson: “I'll play Darryl in a heartbeat, for the record.”
Rainn Wilson: “You would? You would do it?”
Craig Robinson: “I would, yeah. What I'm thinking about opening Darryl's Bar.”
Rainn Wilson: “Maybe Dwight has gotten divorced and fired and his only recourse is to be the bartender at Darryl's Bar.”
Craig Robinson: “I smell a spinoff right here.”
As Rainn Wilson explained that the ad collaboration does not involve NBC along with sharing how the original cast may never play their iconic characters again, Craig Robinson had other thoughts. The actor shared that he would absolutely play the Dunder Mifflin employee once again! When prompted by Wilson, Robinson shared his own spinoff idea: Darryl’s Bar.
Wilson jumped in, sharing that he could only see Dwight Schrute joining in on that idea if he got divorced, fired and really needed work. It’s a pretty solid idea, and we’d absolutely tune into something of that sort, especially if it meant these characters coming back to life after over a decade. Also… can you imagine Dwight being a bartender? It’d be hilarious.
The conversation comes at an ample time as The Office's Greg Daniels is bringing a new take on the franchise with an upcoming Peacock spinoff. As revealed last week, there will be a new version of the comedy that will take place at a struggling newspaper in the Midwest. Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore have been cast in lead roles and it’s been said it takes place in the same universe as the original U.S. series.
While we wait for the new The Office show and imagine what antics would occur on Darryl’s Bar, you can see the full original show with a Peacock subscription and check out shows like The Office as well.
