The Office will continue without Carell: NBC
Network says series to go on after main actor leaves in 2011
Last Updated: Saturday, July 31, 2010 | 10:39 AM ET
CBC News
Steve Carell, pictured in Los Angeles in June, is part of the original cast of the U.S. version of The Office, which launched in 2005. (Katy Winn/Associated Press)NBC's entertainment head has confirmed The Office series will continue despite the departure of actor Steve Carell, who is set to quit the show in May 2011.
"I couldn't go home and face my 14-year-old son if The Office went off the air," said NBC's entertainment programming chief, Angela Bromstad, on Friday at a news conference with journalists covering television programming.
"There are storylines in place, and there's going to be a little mystery leading up to that," she said, refusing to divulge much more.
Bromstad would only say the series' executive producers, Greg Daniels and Paul Lieberstein, have figured out how to replace Carell's boss character, Michael Scott, at the end of next season.
Carell stepped into the role in 2005 when the U.S. version of the hit British series, created by Ricky Gervais, was launched.
The 47-year-old actor, who is on the big screen in Dinner for Schmucks as well as voicing one of the main characters in Despicable Me, has said he wants to spend more time with his family and feels his character has reached the end of his storyline.
