Rainn Wilson admits “The Office” had a hard road after Steve Carell left the series in its seventh season, and he offered a frank take on the show’s final years during a conversation with HuffPost Live on Wednesday.
Wilson told host Ricky Camilleri that the cast and crew wasn’t ready to end the series after Carell’s departure, but finding a new footing was a challenge:
It was a punch, it was a slam, it was a body blow to lose one of the greatest actors who’s ever lived as the lead of your show. It’s a really hard thing to survive, and we struggled a lot that next season — brought in James Spader, the chemistry wasn’t quite right. … He never really kind of fit in. His energy and the show didn’t quite mesh. Obviously [he is] an incredibly talented actor, so interesting, and he had some really cool moments and episodes. But to bring him in, and then Ed Helms was the boss — it got a little wonky there.
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Wilson has come back to TV with his new series “Backstrom,” which premieres on Fox on Jan. 22.
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