The Office: Was Ed Truck Really Decapitated?

The Office season 3 claimed former Regional Manager Ed Truck was decapitated from a horrific accident, but many viewers wondered if an employee made up the story. The character played by Ken Howard had minimal appearances on the NBC sitcom, but his name and history with Dunder Mifflin were referenced from time to time. In fact, he was the one to hire Michael Scott before the man eventually took over his position as manager of the Scranton branch. Thankfully, a crew member from the series has shed light on the truth regarding Ed.

Ed made his debut on The Office during season 2’s episode titled “The Carpet” when Michael met with him to acquire advice. The following season, in “Grief Counseling,” Jan called Michael to inform him that Ed had passed away. While the rest of the workplace seemed unbothered by the news, Michael decided to have a grief counseling session. Since his employees didn’t take the death seriously, Michael became more upset. To make it up to him, the office came together to have a funeral for a bird to show their sincerity.

Though the notion of death was dark enough, the notorious liar Creed Bratton added to the level of seriousness due to his story surrounding Ed’s passing. According to Creed, Ed was “drunk as a skunk” when he slid under an 18-wheeler on the highway, getting decapitated in the process. Based on Creed’s history of outlandish stories, viewers were left wondering if Ed’s decapitation was accurate. According to writer Jennifer Celotta, Creed’s story was indeed correct.

Office Cast Members Confirmed Ed Truck’s Decapitation

After “Grief Counseling” aired in 2006, viewers questioned the truth about Creed’s story, believing that The Office left details of Ed’s death a mystery. Cast members Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey acknowledged the debate so they decided to use their Office Ladies podcast to go directly to the source. After contacting Celotta, the writer confirmed that Creed’s story was accurate by saying “sadly for Ed Truck, he did really get decapitated.” She also agreed with a portion from viewers since it came from an untrustworthy source by adding “it sounds like a Creed story, but it actually was a true story in the world of our show.”

As one of the longest-tenured employees, Creed was around when Ed was still the manager. That would indicate that the pair kept in touch or he at least had a connection that would allow him to be informed of his former boss’ death. The point of the shocking and sudden death was to shake Michael to the core. Rather than truly grieve for Ed, Michael was projecting his own worries that he will die alone one day. By gauging his co-workers’ behavior, he struggled with his own mortality. In doing so, The Office presented a darkly comedic, yet extremely memorable, episode.

About The Author

Kara Hedash
(1744 Articles Published)

Kara Hedash is a features editor and writer for Screen Rant. From time to time, she dives into the world’s most popular franchises but Kara primarily focuses on evergreen topics. The fact that she gets to write about The Office regularly is like a dream come true. Before joining Screen Rant, Kara served as a contributor for Movie Pilot and had work published on The Mary Sue and Reel Honey. After graduating college, writing began as a part-time hobby for Kara but it quickly turned into a career. She loves binging a new series and watching movies ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to hidden indie gems. She also has a soft spot for horror ever since she started watching it at too young of an age. Her favorite Avenger is Thor and her favorite Disney princess is Leia Organa. When Kara’s not busy writing, you can find her doing yoga or hanging out with Gritty.

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