The Office Season 9 Plan Was Never To Split Up Jim & Pam

The Office season 9 was never actually going to split up fan favorite couple Jim and Pam, says creator Greg Daniels. Though The Office went off the air in 2013, it remains one of the most popular sitcoms of today. The NBC series, which is based on the U.K. show of the same name, follows the employees of regional paper company Dunder Mifflin as they go about their lives while being filmed for a documentary. The Office ran for nine seasons, and though it was certainly a success when it was on the air, it’s only grown to bigger heights in recent years as audiences rediscover it through streaming.

One of the highlights of The Office is the sweet romance between Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer). Initially starting as best friends, the two lovebirds finally get together at the end of season 3 and spend the rest of the show as Dunder Mifflin’s cutest couple. However, during The Office season 9, the two run into marital problems. It was later said the plan was to actually have Jim and Pam split up within season 9, though that was ultimately changed. Now, though, it sounds like it wasn’t even supposed to get that far.

While speaking to Collider to promote The Office‘s recent switch from Netflix to Peacock, Daniels set the matter of Jim and Pam’s once-planned split straight. Daniels explained that the two were never going to break up, but that they would have gotten close. “The plan was never to split them up,” Daniels said. “The plan was just to introduce a little worry into the audience so that they’d stand up and pay attention and that there would be a little feeling of like the Act 2 break in a movie. But no there was never gonna be a split-up for them. There was always a happy ending planned.” Based on that, it’s safe to say Daniels and the other Office writers succeeded. Daniels then added:

“It was not a happy thing for people, but I feel like the ending of the series was good and maybe it wouldn’t have been so satisfying if there hadn’t have been a little bit of anxiety beforehand.”

In The Office season 9, Jim splits his time between Scranton and Philadelphia as he helps create a new sports marketing company. His time away puts a strain on his and Pam’s marriage, and to say fans were (and still are) disappointed by that is an understatement. Some even began to wonder if Jim goes so far as to cheat on Pam (he did not). Needless to say, there’s plenty of strife to be found in the final season of The Office.

While watching the storyline play out, it’s easy to question why the writers might have chosen this route for Jim and Pam. However, in hearing Daniels’ explanation, it makes some sense. The struggles between the two make their ending in The Office‘s finale even more poignant. Still, the fact that Jim made Pam cry will probably always be a controversial point among fans. At least the two were always destined to be together; not even a rumored breakup was going to befall them.

Source: Collider

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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