Keep your reactions in check when we break it to you that not Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, but Saul Goodman was supposed to be the boss in NBC’s The office.
As the producers reveal, choosing a boss for The Office was one of the hardest decisions they had to ever make in their entire career. It wasn’t even only about the character, but also about the right actor for that role.
Highlights
- Not Steve Carell’s Michael Scott – But Saul Goodman was to be the boss in The Office.
- The producer reveals their plan of casting Bob Odenkirk as Michael Scott.
- Why the creators chose Steve Carell over Bob Odenkirk?
Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, dominated The Office from its Season 1 to Season 7. Thus, due to the void, that character was required to fill, the creators had to be extremely careful with the character and the actor they cast.
However, one fact you might not know, that Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) was the first choice to be the boss and not Steve Carell (Michael Scott) in The Office.
Not Michael Scott by Steve Carell – But Saul Goodman was to be the boss in The Office.
The Office was adapted form a British Sit-com of the same name from 2001. The Office US, right from its premiere, became one of the most loved sit-com in history.
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Though the show received all the love from its very first season, the real colors were added to its charm with some of the new characters, including Michael Scott, getting introduced in Season 2.
Indeed, Steve Carell and his character Michael Scott proved to be the best thing about The Office. But the creators, were keen on bringing Bob Odenkirk, now known for his portrayal of Saul Goodman in the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, to play the role of Michael Scott before Steve Carell.

The producer reveals their plan of casting Bob Odenkirk as Michael Scott.
One of The Office producers reveals in a new book titled The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, how the role of Michael Scott almost went to the Saul Goodman, aka Bob Odenkirk, instead of Steve Carell.
“We were circling Bob Odenkirk,” they revealed. “He was available and had a great reputation in the comedy world, and he hadn’t yet become famous. He wasn’t really well known.”
This indeed surprised the fans, and they couldn’t stop imagining Bob Odenkirk as the Paper Boss. Who knows, he might have pulled it off better and differently.
Why the creators chose Steve Carell over Bob Odenkirk?
No doubt Steve Carell was the perfect pic to play Michael Scott. But even Bob Odenkirk could have nailed the role of Michael Scott in The Office, as he did for Saul Goodman in The Breaking Bad Universe. Then what made the creator Greg Daniels and Producers to choose Steve Carell?
The Producer in the same book accepted that Bob Odenkirk had an edge of Steve Carell. He Said “He had an edge to him. His take was as funny as Steve’s,” but he clarified, “but it was darker… He was a little tougher and meaner.”
As per the producer, even though both the actors were very precisely fit and extraordinary for the role, it was Steve’s take of the character that got him the role. The producer elaborated by saying that Steve’s take was ‘jerk and a douche,’ whereas, Bob Odenkirk’s take was more of an “a**hole” type.
While watching Bob Odenkirk nailing every frame as Saul Goodman, we wonder, if not for Steve Carell, what his portrayal of Michael Scott would have been.
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