NBC had their work cut out for them when it was announced that season seven would be Steve Carell’s final year as the now iconic Michael Scott. Carell achieved greatness with the character, outdoing Ricky Gervais’ original character, having countless memorable quotes, and leading one of the most classic American sitcoms— so whoever was going to take his place had some big shoes to fill.
NBC’s answer was to have an almost revolving door of managers, give old characters more screen time, and introduce new characters. Every fan has their own opinion of how it was handled, but for the most part, the new characters fit in with the old ones perfectly, while others were just shadows of former characters.
9 Gabe Lewis
Gabe was a character in The Office while Michael Scott was still around, as he was a Sabre corporate employee who helped with the acquisition of Dunder Mifflin. He was always lingering around, as Gabe is known to do, but he was never a major character until Michael Scott left. In Michael’s absence, Gabe became one of the funniest characters, being known for his weird quirks and the absurd amalgam of loving both Lady Gaga and snuff movies.
8 Nellie Bertram
Being one of the branch managers after Michael left, she literally fell in to the role after somebody didn’t show up. She was a tough character to swallow at first, as she was nasty and there wasn’t anything remotely kind about her— but once Nellie got demoted to sales, she quickly became one of the most relatable and rounded characters in the entire series.
Nellie went on to have some of the best moments in the later series, and her strange relationship with Toby was one of the weirdest and fascinating things to happen in the post-Michael Scott.
7 Robert California
California became one of the most important elements of The Office in seasons eight and nine. Played brilliantly by James Spader, an already prolific television actor, the mind-reading, manipulative, self proclaimed “lizard king” CEO of Dunder Mifflin pulled the strings and played characters against each other in the funniest ways possible. That is one of the reasons why California is arguably a better boss than Michael Scott.
6 Deangelo Vickers
Vickers was the lead character for four episodes of the show and though he wasn’t in it for a considerable amount of time, he helped the transition the show from the Steve Carell vehicle in to the more revolving door cast of managers it became. On top of that, Vickers, played by Will Farrell, had more laughs and memorable quotes in his four episodes than some characters did in the whole nine seasons.
5 Val Brooks
After Darryl coming off a ton of losses, including cutting all ties with his ex-wife and his workmates winning one million dollars each in a lottery syndicate that he wasn’t involved in, Val was a perfect addition to the workforce. Becoming Darryl’s love interest, her toying with her keyboard-playing boss by flirting with the strangest employees such as Gabe and Nick is one of the most charming moments of the post-Scott world.
4 Nate Nickerson
Being another new employee when Darryl was forced to hire a whole new workforce after the entire warehouse staff quit, Nate Nickerson was one of the newbies that showed the most comedic potential. He had briefly appeared in the series in the past as one of Dwight’s minions, but he was thrown in a lot more episodes in season nine.
Unfortunately, Nate didn’t get as much screen time as he should have, which was one of the things season nine got wrong. But when he was on screen, he was the funniest part.
3 Pete Miller
Pete is essentially set up as the new Jim, as he becomes a sales agent who sets his sights on Erin, the office’s receptionist. It isn’t as captivating as Jim and Pam’s story and it feels forced, as Andy gets pushed out of the picture in a subplot that makes absolutely no sense and doesn’t remotely match up to his character.
The execs casting a young and good looking actor shows how transparent their motives are, as they were trying to keep the show fresh in its ninth year.
2 Clark Green
Clark takes up the mantle of pranking Dwight as Jim is busy putting together his own business, but the beet farmer’s relationship with Clark is much more civil than it was with Jim. And though it’s hard to believe that Dwight can form a human connection with someone other than Angela, it almost feels like he is taking Clark under his wing. Clark also helps set up the endgame of the entire series.
1 Brian
This was the most polarizing thing in the whole series of The Office, and the point when the show arguably jumped the shark— the crew documenting Dunder Mifflin break the (fictional) fourth wall and become characters themselves.
But that wasn’t the worst part, as not only did the crew become involved, but the boom operator, Brian, becomes romantically involved with Pam, which made fans crazy. It’s one of the reasons why the season nine episodes have some of the worst IMDB ratings of the series.
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