# The Office: Is Will Ferrell Forever?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 22, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367 "2011-04-22T16:06:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/1 "2011-04-22T16:06:17Z")
I always kind of thought they (the writers) were setting up Darryl (the warehouse manager) to be the next person in charge. I think there’d be a lot of potential (in terms of story quality) for such a move.
Will Ferrell’s character seems more like a stand-in for Michael Scott, which I think is a mistake. He will simply be compared to Michael, and inevitably found wanting. I thought they were doing something (which I consider to be) smarter, by moving someone into the management position who’s completely different from Michael.
Is Will Ferrell’s character a permanent addition? Or is there likely to be some _other_ manager coming in next season? Do we know?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/2 "2011-04-22T16:16:40Z")
Full disclosure: I don’t watch the show.
But it’s popular enough I’ve heard that Steve Carroll is leaving and Will Ferrell is coming in as the new boss character. And what I’ve heard is usually coy about how long-term Ferrell’s presense will be.
But realistically, I don’t think Ferrell is looking to make an ongoing committment to a TV sitcom. My guess is his role will only last through the next few weeks of sweeps and then the real replacement will step in.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/3 "2011-04-22T16:16:41Z")
As far as I know, Ferrell only signed on for about four or five episodes. So my assumption is that he is not the permanent replacement.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/4 "2011-04-22T16:20:32Z")
Ferrell has hinted to _Entertainment Weekly_ that he’d like to join the cast, but he was probably yanking their chains.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/5 "2011-04-22T16:25:09Z")
I thought I had heard he was on for a limited number of episodes, but could be wrong. Like the OP, I was predicting an in-house competition for the spot, between Dwight, Gabe, Kelly, Jim and Darryl, with Darryl winning out.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/6 "2011-04-22T16:26:20Z")
As others said, Will Ferrell is only signed for four episodes. Steve Carell is leaving because of his film career, and Will Ferrell’s film career is even bigger than Steve’s, so it’s really, really unlikely that he’d join the show permanently. I think the replacement manager will come from the existing cast, but as far as I know they haven’t said who it will be. A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Darryl getting the job, but the character has acquired skills enough that he’s a possibility. But so is Dwight, Jim or Gabe.
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/7 "2011-04-22T16:28:54Z")
Hmmmm…well, this is awkward. You see, you need to send a memo to Tallahassee and request that Will Ferrell stay on permanently. /Gabe
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/8 "2011-04-22T16:30:42Z")
The guy who plays Darryl is not a good enough actor to assume that role. It’s been painfully obvious anytime he’s had to speak more than two lines in a row. I had heard that Farrell is only there for a few eps. I hope so, as I can’t abide the guy for more than a few minutes.
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### Author:  [@be\_bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/be_bright)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/9 "2011-04-22T16:31:12Z")
I first heard about Will Ferrell joining The Office through Rainn Wilson’s tweet (or an RT?), and Rainn said he’d be on for four episodes. I don’t know when/why people began to say he’d be Steve Carrell’s _replacement_.
…And now I can’t find that tweet. Argh!
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### Author:  [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/10 "2011-04-22T18:00:40Z")
Steve Carrell has a film career? Get Smart sucked, and Date Night was nothing special.
After last night’s episode, if Will stays on, they will lose a viewer. Since Kelly is leaving, she’s out of the running for new manager.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/11 "2011-04-22T18:22:36Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I had heard that Farrell is only there for a few eps. I hope so, as I can’t abide the guy for more than a few minutes.
I can’t stand him either, but what bugs me most about him in these last two episodes is his interaction with Steve Carell. I thought that once the new character was in, we’d be rid of Michael Scott. As a team, Carell and Ferrell are like Laurel and Laurel.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/12 "2011-04-22T18:43:04Z")
Hope this episode is on Hulu. As I said in another thread the Blazers basketball game ran over Community and The Office.
> [@Munch](#):
>
> Like the OP, I was predicting an in-house competition for the spot, between Dwight, Gabe, Kelly, Jim and Darryl, with Darryl winning out.
For some reason I was under the impression that Gabe was higher up than Michael.
> [@fusoya](#):
>
> Since Kelly is leaving, she’s out of the running for new manager.
Mindy Kaling is leaving? What a shame. Kelly’s only a minor character but I’ll be sad to see her go.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/13 "2011-04-22T19:12:47Z")
> [@Nobody](#):
>
> Mindy Kaling is leaving? What a shame. Kelly’s only a minor character but I’ll be sad to see her go.
She’s one of the head writers. Will she still be writing the series or is she gone gone?
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### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/14 "2011-04-22T19:38:46Z")
Last Friday Terry Gross said on Fresh Air that this was a 4 episode arc so, no, he will not be forever.
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### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/15 "2011-04-22T19:41:41Z")
[Cite](http://www.npr.org/2011/04/15/135414397/will-ferrell-the-comedian-reflects-on-fiction)
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/16 "2011-04-22T20:16:38Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> I thought I had heard he was on for a limited number of episodes, but could be wrong. Like the OP, I was predicting an in-house competition for the spot, between Dwight, Gabe, Kelly, Jim and Darryl, with Darryl winning out.
The premise for the show, as we are all aware, is to portray a completely disfunctional office environment. Having anybody remotely sane in the top spot is just not in keeping with that idea, so Jim and Darryl are out of the running. The Dwight character would, I think, work for awhile but would become tiresome soon, since we all know his quirks. Gabe is annoying, but that schtick won’t fly for long in the starring role. They really should have just ended the series with this season, as the story arcs have completely played out. Even this past season was largely just one-liners. But network idiots just love beating a horse until it drops dead and stinks to high heaven.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/17 "2011-04-22T20:28:44Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> She’s one of the head writers. Will she still be writing the series or is she gone gone?
I don’t know. I was just responding to what **fusoya** said.
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### Author:  [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/18 "2011-04-22T22:25:46Z")
I’m absolutely loathing Will Ferrell on The Office, but I have to say it isn’t his fault. He’s playing the character well, but it’s a lousy role and a lousy situation.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/19 "2011-04-22T23:26:01Z")
> [@fusoya](#):
>
> Steve Carrell has a film career? Get Smart sucked, and Date Night was nothing special.
He does one or two movies a year, which is pretty substantial for someone tied to a TV series.
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-is-will-ferrell-forever/579367/20 "2011-04-23T02:24:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> The guy who plays Darryl is not a good enough actor to assume that role. It’s been painfully obvious anytime he’s had to speak more than two lines in a row. I had heard that Farrell is only there for a few eps. I hope so, as I can’t abide the guy for more than a few minutes.
I agree on Farrell. As for Darryl, the thing to remember is that there is absolutely NOTHING about the show that says that the boss needs to be the lead. It’s an ensemble show, and many people (including me) thought that most of the worst episodes were those that were too Michael-centric.
-Joe
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