The Office: Why A Darryl Philbin Spinoff Would’ve Worked Better Than A Dwight One

When The Office was still considering a spinoff series, they should have chosen Darryl Philbin over Dwight Shrute. In an attempt to capitalize on the continued success of the series, even after its conclusion, the creators made an effort to move in the spinoff direction with one poorly-received episode. However, despite this setback, it wasn’t necessarily the spinoff concept itself that was bad, rather the choice of which character to follow.

The NBC hit show made a very successful nine-season run from 2005 to 2013, and was loved by fans and critics alike. At the end of its run, The Office had been nominated for 42 Primetime Emmy Awards, with five wins, prompting calls from some quarters for a continuation. The original plan was to have a new series featuring Dwight Shrute (played by Rainn Wilson) and his wacky family. This was set up in The Office season 9 episode 17 “The Farm”. Unfortunately, the episode completely bombed and is still regarded as one of the worst decisions of the show. The storyline was both uninteresting and strange, and the Dwight spinoff was quickly canceled.

Despite Dwight’s enduring popularity, a far better choice for a The Office spin-off would have been Darryl Philbin, played by Craig Robinson. Darryl was consistently funny throughout the show, while still being more grounded in reality than Dwight. This gave him a better chance in the lead role. Additionally, Darryl’s relationships and new career at Athlead were familiar to fans, at least more so than Dwight’s siblings and farm.

A big reason why Jim Halpert worked so well as the main character of The Office (Jim over Michael Scott because of Michael’s early exit from the show) was that he was a wise-cracking “every-man“. Darryl filled a similar role, funny with his wit instead of absurdity. Dwight, on the other hand, was hilarious because he was so far from normal. Dwight fits better as a supporting lead to compliment the main character, while Darryl could realistically spearhead the narrative.

In the finale of The Office, Darryl was set up for some great storylines to follow. Most importantly, he was having a successful career as Athlead V.P. of Athlete Relations. In a spinoff, this would be the chance for celebrity athlete appearances and entertaining sports hijinks. Darryl’s love life was changing as well, possibly getting back together with his ex-wife. That relationship would be interesting to follow, especially how it pertains to Darryl’s daughter Jada.

Ever since the finale of The Office (featuring Seth Myers and Bill Hader), the show’s style and tone have been missed by audiences. While the attempted Dwight series didn’t work out, that doesn’t reflect on how successful another option could have been. Having Darryl lead his own show would have capitalized on the success of The Office, while still providing a fresh story. Perhaps a new spinoff could still be pursued, and Craig Robinson could bring the character of Darryl to screen once again.

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