James Spader In 'The Office': Robert California As Dunder Mifflin CEO
James Spader will be the new boss on "The Office." For about a day. Then, it's up to corporate.
A press release from Universal reveals that Spader has sealed a deal to join the show on a full-time basis, reprising the character he played during last season's finale's hunt for a new Scranton head honcho. But instead of settling for the desk in Pennsylvania, he ends up climbing much, much higher -- to the top of Sabre.
"James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,” said Paul Lieberstein, one of the series’ executive producers and a series regular. "He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and ‘The Office’ has no tools for dealing with this guy. We're thrilled he's joining our cast."
Of course, that still leaves the boss's chair in Scranton vacant.
Following star Steve Carell's announcement that he was leaving the hit comedy, Dunder Mifflin went on a huge head hunt for star power to keep the show going. Will Ferrell did them a solid by booking a four episode arc as the temporary boss, which was followed by a final episode with a long series of guest stars. But according to TV Line's Michael Ausiello, the plan right now may be to hire from within.
He says that the producers are, for now, deciding between Jim (John Krasinksi), Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Andy (Ed Helms) to take the boss's chair; on the show, Dwight and Andy both vied for the role, while Jim decided he didn't want to be part of management (perhaps he can be convinced otherwise?). All this after a spring of new that led to the blowout episode with Will Arnett, Ricky Gervais, Spader, Jim Carrey, Ray Romano and Catherine Tate.
Spader is best known for his runs on "Boston Legal," and "The Practice," for which he won Emmys, but also has a long film career that reaches way back to "Pretty in Pink."
Here's the full release:
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (July 6, 2011) Multiple Emmy Award winner James Spader (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice”) will be joining the regular cast of NBC’s “The Office” (Thursdays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET) as CEO Robert California of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder Mifflin."James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,” said Paul Lieberstein, one of the series’ executive producers and a series regular. "He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and ‘The Office’ has no tools for dealing with this guy. We're thrilled he's joining our cast."
From 2004-08, Spader won three Emmy awards for his seminal role as shameless attorney Alan Shore in “The Practice” and "Boston Legal," making him the only actor to win consecutive Emmys playing the same character on two different series. He is represented at ICM and Melanie Cook.
"The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American audiences, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein and Paul Lieberstein.
James Spader interviews on "The Office"
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First Posted: 07/06/11 02:34 PM ET Updated: 09/05/11 06:12 AM ET