Why Did Steve Carell Leave ‘The Office’? The Real Story Behind Michael Scott’s Exit
Why did Steve Carell leave The Office? As it turns out, there were elements at play in his exit that the world never knew about until recently. If you thought it was weird that Michael Scott would ever leave the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin for good, it turns out, you were right. Find out the real reason the beloved star left the beloved sitcom—and all of his co-stars in tears. Why did Steve Carell leave The Office? Let’s break it down:
Steve Carell said he left The Office because he wanted to spend more time with his kids
The official story at the time of Carell’s exit from The Office was that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and children. He didn’t speak much about it directly, simply saying in a 2010 interview with Us Weekly that Season 7 would be his last, as his contract was ending. It was widely believed that he simply wanted to dedicate time to his family and budding film career. He told Parade at the time, “I will miss all my friends. We’ve known each other now for seven, eight years. I mean, it’s been a long time since the time we shot the pilot until now, so that’s by far what I’ll miss the most, the friendships that I’ve gained there.”
Steve Carell didn’t really want to leave The Office
In spring 2020, the release of the book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History sent shockwaves among fans of the classic sitcom: Author Andy Greene revealed that Carell actually didn’t want to leave the series, but that NBC execs never communicated with the star about definitively renewing his contract. Hairstylist Kim Ferry said she witnessed Carell distraught over the network not working to keep him, even after he told them he wanted to stay after his original seven-season deal ended, and that it upset her to see that most people believed he chose to quit.
“He didn’t want to leave the show. He had told the network that he was going to sign for another couple of years. He was willing to and his agent was willing to. But for some reason, they didn’t contact him,” Ferry insisted. “He planned on staying on the show. He told his manager and his manager contacted them and said he’s willing to sign another contract for a couple years. So all of that was willing and ready and, on their side, honest. And the deadline came for when they were supposed to give him an offer and it passed and they didn’t make him an offer.” Ferry recalled Carell saying, “‘Look, I told them I want to do it. I don’t want to leave. I don’t understand.’”
Boom mic operator Brian Wittie recalled the network and Carell’s lack of communication over his impending exit.
“I sat with him one time and he told me the story: He was doing a radio interview and he haphazardly mentioned, almost unconsciously, that it might be his last season. He didn’t plan on saying it out loud and he hadn’t decided anything. He was kind of thinking out loud, but he did it in an interview in public and it created news,” Wittie said. “Then what he said was, the people connected to the show had no reaction to it. They didn’t call and say, ‘What? You wanna leave?’ He said he didn’t get any kind of response from them. When he realized he didn’t get any kind of response from them, he thought, ‘Oh, maybe they don’t really care if I leave. Maybe I should go do other things.’”
One possible explanation for their silence: Greene points out in the book that Carell’s exit came as NBC had some major shakeups near the top. Bob Greenblatt was replacing Jeff Zucker, and The Officeproducer Randy Cordray alleged that Greenblatt “was not as big a fan of The Office as we wished he would’ve been.”
Steve Carell pitched the idea of how Michael Scott would leave Dunder Mifflin
The Office podcast, in which Carell admitted six months before leaving, he pitched how Michael Scott should exit Dunder Mifflin.
“The idea that I pitched was, you know, obviously he and Holly would be together — but I said specifically, ‘On his last day, I thought that there should be a party being planned, but that he should basically trick people into thinking he was leaving the next day.’ … I just thought that that would be the most elegant representation of his growth as a human being, because Michael lives to be celebrated.”
“You think that’s all he wants. He wants to be the center of attention, and he wants pats on the back. He wants people to think he’s funny and charming and all of those things,” he added. “But the fact that he’d walk away from his big tribute, his big sendoff, and be able to in a very personal way, say goodbye to each character. That to me, felt like it would resonate.”
John Krasinski said Steve Carell leaving The Office felt like the end of the show
“It felt like the end of an era. It felt like the end of something more than even losing Steve or losing Michael, it felt like the end of our show in a way, or that evolution of our show,” he said on Baumgartner’s podcast. “It’s like when you graduate college, your life isn’t over, but that version of your life will never come back.”
Krasinski also revealed that it was difficult to actually film the episode because everyone was so sad.
“I also remember him crying, and I was not expecting that,” Krasinski recalled. “The energy in that room was so thick and palpable that when they called ‘action’ or ‘go ahead,’ I remember Steve teared up right away. And that was so unlike him—not that he was emotionless, but it was like, it was so unlike him to let real life bleed into the moment. I think I actually remember the actual number was 17 takes of not even speaking—just dribbling crying.”
Steve Carell said filming his final episode of The Office was “emotional torture”
Carell said shooting “Goodbye, Michael” was cathartic, but heartbreaking. “It was almost more than I bargained for,” he said. “I had scenes with everyone in the cast and it was emotional torture. It was like, just fraught with emotion and joy and sadness and nostalgia. But it was also really beautiful. I’d like treasure just doing that episode because it did allow me to kind of have a finality with everybody.”
