Rainn Wilson Says ‘The Office’ in the Pandemic ‘Would’ve Been Amazing,’ Pitches Episode: Dwight ‘Has to Kidnap Every’ Staffer to Return to Work

NBC’s “The Office” ended after nine seasons and 201 episodes in May 2013, about seven years before the COVID pandemic disrupted jobs around the world. In a new interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show” (via Entertainment Weekly), cast member Rainn Wilson said it would’ve been a thrill to do pandemic-themed episodes of the sitcom. Wilson, who starred as Dwight Schrute, was a main cast member on all nine seasons of the show.

“It would’ve been so much fun to film ‘The Office’ during the pandemic,” Wilson said. “If we had pandemic episodes, that would’ve been amazing. ‘The Office’ writers were so great — they would’ve been able to spin that in some beautiful ways.”

Wilson even pitched an idea for an episode of “The Office” in which Dwight would recruit the staff of Dundler Mifflin to return to work after the pandemic.

“I think it would be: [Dwight] gets the call from corporate to get everyone back in the office and everyone is resistant,” Wilson said. “So, one at a time, Dwight has to kidnap every ‘Office’ cast member and bring them into Dunder Mifflin in some kind of obscure and somewhat inappropriate way.”

Wilson previously imagined pandemic-themed “The Office” episodes during a September 2020 interview on “The Late Show.”

“Dwight during a pandemic would be fantastic,” Wilson said at the time. “Dwight, oh my God. You’ve got so much going on right now…You’ve got Dwight fighting the pandemic. You’ve got Dwight building his own vaccine, his own antibodies. Maybe doing secret tests on people in the office. Anything you can possibly imagine, he would be all in on the conspiracy theory.”

Wilson is currently making the press rounds in support of his new book, “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.”