How Oscar changed in the suite of The Office
The defector of Dunder Mifflin lives another life in Ohio. The actor Oscar Núñez says more.
About a year ago, Oscar Núñez had lunch with his old friend Greg Daniels, the genius of the American version of The Office, in which he embodied the point -and -pragmatic report Oscar Martinez for nine seasons. Daniels said to him:
“I work on a new series. What would you think of coming back as a Oscar?
On September 4, Peacock will broadcast the 10 episodes of The Paper (no French broadcaster still announced) a very free spin-off of The Office which follows the staff of a local newspaper in difficulty in Ohio, and a new editor-in-chief determined to revive a decline media.
From the first minutes, the series explains why Oscar finds itself in the Midwest, working as an accountant for the Toledo Truth Teller alongside new colleagues embodied by Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, or Chelsea Frei.
The last time we saw Oscar Martinez, he was still an accountant at Dunder Mifflin, worked for his new manager Dwight and he was also the godfather of his son (the one he had with Angela). So why did he leave all of this and the Pennsylvania to go and live thousands of kilometers?
After the end of The Office, the actor exxplicated in interview that he imagined Oscar leaving Dunder Mifflin one day to get into politics. But in The Paper, he finds himself more or less at the same stage of his life, simply in another city. Oscar Núñez explains in Variety:
“His business was bought by a larger company, and they decided to keep it. You want to continue working for this box? You will have to move. It’s the same guy, but in another city, probably better paid if he negotiated properly.”
If Oscar occupies an administrative position in the newspaper, far from the daily responsibilities of journalists, the revitalization of the Toledo Truth Teller will push him to overcome his functions and to get involved.
“Does he just want to earn money, stay this cynical type, or do he want to act concretely and work for his business? We will see …”
Núñez is for the moment the only former of The Office present in the casting of The Paper, but the series keeps a lot of DNA of Dunder Mifflin.
Paul Lieberstein, screenwriter and producer of the original series (who also played Toby), worked on the scripts of The Paper, alongside directors from The Office like Jeffrey Blitz, Dave Rogers, Matt Sohn, Jennifer Celotta and Ken Kwapis. Bonus: Daniels co-created the series with Michael Koman, whose wife Ellie Kemper embodied Erin in The Office. The loop is completed.
