It's the most-watched show during the pandemic, and more often than not, when a friend asks if you're a fan, their question is usually "Do you watch The Office US?" as opposed to "Have you seen it?" But while it's among the most binge-worthy sitcoms ever, why did The Office US end?
The Office US is based on the British mockumentary of the same name. It stars Steve Carrell (Michael Scott), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), John Krasinski (Jim Halpert), Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly), and Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor).
Other cast members are Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton), Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin), Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez), Ed Helms (Andy Bernard), Ellie Kemper (Erin Hannon), BJ Novak (Ryan Howard), Andy Buckley (David Wallace)...
...Phyllis Smith (Phyllis Smith), Craig Robinson (Darryl Philbin), Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone), Leslie David Baker (Stanley Hudson), Kate Flannery (Meredith Palmer), and Amy Ryan (Holly Flax).
The show has also featured well-known actors such as James Spader (Robert California), Cathy Bates (Jo Bennett), Catherine Tate (Nellie Bertam), Will Ferrell (Deangel Vickers), Rashida Jones (Karen Filipelli), and Idris Elba (Charles Miner).
The Office US employs the concept of an unseen camera crew documenting the day to day lives of the employees at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch, home to sales clerks, accountants, HR reps, and regional manager Michael Scott.
While the narcissistic and child-like Michael Scott is the main focus of the show during its first seven seasons, other main characters include Jim, Pam, and Dwight. The last two seasons also brings Andy into the fold a lot more.
Unlike The Office UK, the show ran for nine seasons, and many of its "extra" characters are given far more screentime than their British counterparts, and are as much the main characters as the likes of Michael, Jim, Pam, and Dwight.
Steve Carrell left the show at the end of Season 7, and despite some deliberation about his replacement (which was the case both on and off the screen), his ultimate successor was Andy Bernard for the final two seasons.
Related: Is The Office UK or US better?
While Ed Helms, having already been a well-established character by that point, got off to a great start, this is where things really started to go downhill for both the character and the show itself overall.
Season 8 continues with the will-they-won't-they love story between manager Andy and secretary Erin, which ultimately sees Andy racing to Florida while she's there on a Dunder Mifflin-related business trip, to win her heart.
Unfortunately, despite them reuniting, their relationship is once again short-lived when Andy, whose parents suddenly divorce, goes through a mid-life crisis and decides to set sail across the Pacific on his family yacht, alone.
It's at this point where it becomes evident that Ed Helms' career on the big screen is starting to take off, with The Hangover movie sequels underway. One can't blame Helms, of course, and it's really the writing that's the problem.
Andy was easily one of the most lovable characters in the show - though a sheltered Cornell brat, his heart was always in the right place, and his desire for his co-workers to accept him where his parents wouldn't was endearing.
But as we got deeper into Season 8 and 9, it's fair to say that what happens to Andy is nothing short of complete character sabotage - even if it probably wasn't in any way intentional.
Andy doesn't just abandon the supposed love of his life, Erin, at the docks, in favor of a Pacific yacht trip with his brother to capture some family nostalgia - upon his return three months later, he's a completely different character.
Gone is the infectious, energetic people-pleaser, and instead he's been replaced with an obnoxious imposter who expects to just walk back into both his job and relationship, despite having fallen off the earth.
While Season 8 and Season 9 do suffer from some of these ill-conceived character and story-telling decisions, there's still plenty to love from both the penultimate and final season of this long-running show.
In fact, by the end, there's redemption all round, and Andy is no exception. Sure, his character becomes the butt of his own joke by the time we get to the Season 9 finale, but each character feels somewhat rounded-off by the end.
Jim and Pam make plans to move to Austin so that Jim can return to his dream job; Darryl is thriving in that very same company; Dwight and Angela have finally tied the knot, and Erun is finally reunited with her birth mother.
Even Steve Carrell reprises his role as Michael Scott in the episode, who is happily married with Holly and has children with her. So no stone is left unturned in - life simply goes on. But even so, why did The Office US end?
It's probably a good thing that the show ended when it did, especially as it's plain to see that the writing was beginning to suffer. Not only that, but there was really nowhere else for the show to go.
After all, the last two seasons stretch things thin, and with Michael Scott long gone, many fans had started to lose interest in the show. While the supporting characters did a great job at holding their own, it just wasn't the same.
With that said, it was refreshing to see the other characters thrive without the shadow of Michael Scott hanging over them (his literal shadow - it's a wonder how any of them managed to get any work done).
But why did the show actually end? Did it come to a natural close, or was there a decline in ratings? Could the showrunners have rounded it off with ten seasons, or should we be grateful that Season 9 neatly tied things up?
Well, while Ed Helms' prospering Hollywood career wasn't responsible for the show ending, it was one of many increasingly challenging scheduling conflicts among the cast and crew.
It's well documented that many cast members did not want the show to end, but it was unanimously agreed that it should end before those scheduling commitments became too much of a problem.
Season 9 already saw the unceremonious departure of both BJ Novak and Mindy Kaling, both of whom, among many other cast members, were also writers and producers on the show.
While they both returned for the finale, it was obvious that scheduling commitments were becoming a problem, which is completely understandable when you realize just how popular the show was at this time.
So, you'll be glad to know that The Office US was not canceled - it just came to something of a natural end. And what a fitting finale that last Season 9 episode was, which even offered some insight into Michael Scott's life at that time.
While there was a steady decline in viewers over the course of the show - especially since Steve Carrell's departure - the cast and crew, who have spoken about their reasons since, took the wise decision to end the show on a high.
The Season 9 finale even echoes the real-world ending of the show, as the documentary crew returns one year later to see how the Dunder Mifflin employees are doing in the wake of the show being aired in full.
Rumors of a revival continue to circulate, but we think The Office US is best left just as it is. Any follow-up of sorts would likely overcompensate for almost 10 years of the show being off-air, and could end up feeling a bit too OTT.
And to quote Pam Beesly, who has the last line in the show, "There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?"