The Office – Picture by NBC Universal
The Office has now been confirmed to be departing Netflix and we can reveal the date it’s most likely to do so. The confirmation came in June after months of reports that The Office would eventually depart Netflix for NBC’s upcoming streaming service.
Let’s give you context on the situation. The Office is a super popular US comedy sitcom that aired on NBC between 2005 and 2013. The series was a remake of the UK series by Ricky Gervais and although had a rocky start, quickly grew into one of NBC’s biggest comedies.
To this day, it remains one of the most popular shows on Netflix alongside the likes of Friends (which aired on NBC but is owned by Warner Brothers) which is supposedly departing Netflix in 2020.
The series first touched down on Netflix in the early days with the final season dropping on early on in Netflix’s life.
However, the last big renewal for the show was on January 1st, 2016 which is what most cataloging services for Netflix seem to agree on.
Netflix has lost 30 Rock from NBC in recent years but has picked up the likes of Good Girls and The Good Place. Netflix UK lost The Office back in 2015.
What will happen to The Office on Netflix?
In an extensive article from The Hollywood Reporter looking into the recent Marvel cancellations and the wider streaming environment as a whole, it touched on The Office.
Specifically, they’re talking about NBC’s plans for the future which includes creating a new streaming service. It’s supposedly going to be ad-supported but most importantly, will have some of NBC’s biggest shows heading up the lineup.
In the article, they concluded that “For the time being, Friends and The Office will remain on Netflix through 2019 and 2021, respectively.”
It’s now been confirmed that The Office is leaving even sooner. Arriving on the NBC platform in 2021, Netflix will now be losing The Office on January 1st, 2021.
In a statement to THR, Bonnie Hammer who works at NBCUniversal said the following: “The Office’ has become a staple of pop-culture and is a rare gem whose relevance continues to grow at a time when fans have more entertainment choices than ever before,” adding “We can’t wait to welcome the gang from Dunder Mifflin to NBCUniversal’s new streaming service.”
Netflix released a statement on Twitter with the following:
We're sad that NBC has decided to take The Office back for its own streaming platform — but members can binge watch the show to their hearts' content ad-free on Netflix until January 2021
— Netflix (@netflix) June 25, 2019
As Netflix jibes in the statement above, The Office will only be available from 2021 on an ad-supported product provided by NBC.
The Office will no doubt be a huge loss for the Netflix library but by the time it leaves, it’ll be close to a decade since the show has ended.
The cast of The Office
Until then, we have another project on the horizon coming exclusively to Netflix that includes Steve Carell reuniting with Greg Daniels and that’s called Space Force.
Will you miss The Office when it does eventually leave Netflix?
