NBC to Develop Spin-off Series for THE OFFICE's Rainn Wilson
As first reported on Deadline.com, the NBC network is currently developing a spinoff series for THE OFFICE's Rainn Wilson.
The new comedy would feature Wilson's character Dwight Schrute as a farmer outside of Scranton, PA. Previous episodes of the hit NBC comedy have depicted Schrute's family background as beet farmers who manage a bed & breakfast in the outskirts of the city.
NBC is planning a pilot episode of the proposed series which would air later this season. If it proves successful, it would become a midseason replacement for the network in 2013.
A source told Deadline, “Paul and Rainn have been joking for years about Dwight’s life on the farm, his family and how ill-suited he is to run a B&B. A while ago, it started to feel like a show to them. NBC agreed, it’s been further developed to include multiple generations, many cousins and neighbors. At its base it will be about a family farm struggling to survive and a family trying to stay together.”
Rainn Wilson had come up with the idea for the spin-off along with the Office's executive producer Paul Lieberstein. If the pilot is picked up by the network, Wilson would appear in his role on THE OFFICE for the fall season, before transferring over to his new series later in the year.
