Jenna Fischer Says The Office Stayed Strong After Steve Carell’s Exit: “It’s Really Good the Whole Time”

Jenna Fischer has spent more time with The Office than most, and after recently rewatching the entire series, she’s sharing some fresh thoughts, especially about the later seasons. Known for playing Pam Beesly across all nine seasons of the hit NBC sitcom, Fischer says the show stayed strong all the way through, even after Steve Carell left.

Speaking on the Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, Fischer talked about how her view of the show changed after watching it again for her own Office Ladies podcast. She wrapped up her full rewatch in October and said it gave her a new perspective.

“My biggest takeaway from having rewatched it was that it’s really good the whole time,” she said.

Many fans and even some cast and crew have long believed that the show wasn’t as good after Carell, who played the unforgettable Michael Scott, exited at the end of Season 7. But Fischer doesn’t agree with that anymore.

“I think there was this lore, especially among the cast and the creatives, that maybe we hit our peak in Season 3 or Season 4,” she said. “And also this belief that the two seasons after Steve left, we were just treading water and maybe they weren’t as good. But when I watched everything, some of my favorite episodes were in seasons 8 and 9 after Steve had left. There were still these amazing storylines.”

She also mentioned that her personal favorite stretch of the series was from Season 4 to Season 6. One episode that stands out the most to her is Dinner Party from Season 4, which is widely considered one of the show’s most memorable and awkwardly hilarious episodes.

Though The Office ended in 2013, it’s still going strong in pop culture. And now, a new spinoff is on the way. Peacock recently announced The Paper, a new series set in the same universe. The new show will follow the documentary crew that filmed The Office as they turn their cameras toward a historic Midwestern newspaper and the person trying to bring it back to life.

Fischer’s rewatch shows how much the show still matters to fans and to those who helped create it. Even years after the final episode aired, The Office continues to surprise, entertain, and get people talking.

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