NBC’s ‘The Office’ season 9 spoilers: John Krasinski, Greg Daniels on road to finale
We are slowly starting to near the series finale for “The Office,” and when it comes to the relationship with Jim and Pam, there are plenty of questions as to whether or not their relationship will last. This has been a difficult situation for the couple this year, as they have had tension between them as a result of the two characters living at times in separate cities, and with resentment forming when it comes to whether or not he is doing the right thing by Pam and his children in pursuing a career in Philadelphia without her being in agreement.
So why did this storyline come about now, especially as we are so close to the end? John Krasinski and showrunner Greg Daniels took part in a conference call on Wednesday, and the actor explained first of all why he was personally inspired to take on a story that had a little bit more drama mixed into it than the standard tale of Jim and Pam:
“My favorite thing about the show has always been how everything, especially with the Jim and Pam story, has been very real … My whole pitch to Greg was that we’ve done so much with Jim and Pam, and after marriage and kids there was a lull about what [they] wanted to do. The idea of Jim being ambitious was something from the earlier seasons that [we saw quite a bit of] … So I wanted to explore that, and him going to another city came from my brother actually, who was traveling around the country with his job.”
Daniels added that the idea for this story on his end was to make viewers more “involved” in the relationship, which is something we had particularly more ownership of in the earlier seasons when we were seeing so much of their live story unfold. Krasinski said that the moment at the end of last week’s episode was a sign of hope that these two do still love each other, there is still much to figure out, including how they are going to make their lives together work. There was also something in here, per Daniels, designed to lessen the Jim / Pam panic leading up to the May 16 series-end.
While Daniels was coy when it came to sharing spoilers on the grand finale, he did say during the call that he and NBC are still looking at ways to extend the episode’s run time:
“We’re trying to get more time, and the network’s trying to get more time with [them] getting really creative with us.”
What do you want to see happen from Jim and Pam moving into the finale? If you want to also take a look ahead at Thursday night’s new episode, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: NBC