NBC’s ‘The Office’ series finale spoilers: Where Ed Helms, Craig Robinson are

Massive time jumps (at least longer than a summer) have never exactly been the name of the game at “The Office,” but Thursday night’s series finale is starting out with one for the ages. A year will have passed between now and the time that we last saw some of these characters at Dunder-Mifflin, and several dearly-departed characters have returned in order to attend the wedding of Dwight and Angela.

On this occasion, we’re not talking about Kelly and Ryan (who will be at the actual wedding ceremony). Instead, we’re looking at Andy and Darryl, who really just left this past episode in an effort to pursue their respective dreams. For Darryl, it really feels like he is going places, ironically working with the company that Jim brought him on, but has been able to fully stay with. (We still see Jim sitting at Dunder-Mifflin in the preview.) Meanwhile, Andy looks to be completely devastated financially, and he has a phone number that nobody ever calls him on. Even though he totally brought this on himself, we may finally be at a point now where we can feel some sort of pity for him.

There are going to be some surprise appearances on the night, and the question still remains about whether or not Steve Carell makes a cameo. (The rumor mill burns bright that he will, but reps for the actor have denied everything thus far.) There may also be some other surprise cameos from people that you have come to love on the show over its run.

If you want to get even more emotional about this (and it’s pretty easy to right now, given the public sentiment), the video here has some long-winded reflections from the likes of John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and the rest of the cast. Overall, it looks to be quite a long and tear-jerking day.

Photo: NBC