Some television characters are so iconic they will continue to live in viewers’ general consciousness long after their series has come to an end. Dwight Schrute from The Office is one of those. And while Rainn Wilson has at times gone to lengths to prevent awkward fan interactions, he recently found himself sitting next to a man on a plane who was watching The Office, completely unaware that the actor behind the beet farmer was right there. Wilson went viral with a video of his strange situation, and he has since provided an update to confirm that the story had a happy ending.
Rainn Wilson’s face was partially obscured by a mask and headphones as he sat next to The Office fan, so the guy can’t really be blamed for not giving his seatmate a more probing look before starting his in-flight binge. Nobody likes a looky loo, especially on a long flight! The actor did eventually address the elephant-sized Dundie in the room, he told fans on Instagram:
Everyone keeps asking me, ‘Did the guy ever recognize you?’ Yes. So after five hours of watching The Office, I finally nudged him. I was like, ‘Ah, it seems like you like that show.’ And I was slowly taking my mask off, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I really like it a lot.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I heard it was not so good.’ He’s like, ‘Well it starts really slow, the first season is kind of questionable.’
Clearly Rainn Wilson wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to troll this fan a little bit, goading him into giving light criticisms about the classic workplace mockumentary. Obviously anybody who watches The Office for multiple hours — and this guy seemed super focused on the show — isn’t really going to have a whole lot of negative opinions, even about its first season, when it was trying to figure out how Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin fit into the world established by David Brent’s Wernham Hogg in the original British series.
The Dwight Schrute portrayer seemed to just be milking the moment, and he continued:
I was slowly taking my mask off, and I was like, ‘Oh, not so good, huh? The first season?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but once you get into it and get to know the characters…’ And I was like, ‘Yeah but that first season kinda sucks? It’s really bad? That’s too bad. That’s bad that the first season sucks.’ And then he recognized me, and his head exploded, and we had a nice laugh. So, happy ending.
It’s great that the two men were able to share a laugh over the crazy coincidence, but I have to imagine the fan was pretty mortified over saying anything even remotely critical about the show. You can see the viral video and Rainn Wilson’s full explanation of what happened below:
At least he didn’t say anything negative about Dwight — one of The Office’s best characters — and hopefully he didn’t make things worse by quoting the popular “Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica,” line that’s often misattributed to Rainn Wilson’s character.
If you want to indulge in a binge of The Office like this guy, you can stream all nine seasons with a Peacock subscription. You might just want to make sure there are none of The Office cast members around when you do! Also stay up to date on all of the upcoming premieres with our 2023 TV schedule.
