"Finale" | |
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The Office episode | |
Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 24/25 |
Directed by | Ken Kwapis |
Written by | Greg Daniels |
Production code | 9024/9025 |
Original air date | May 16, 2013 |
Running time | 52 minutes |
Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Finale" is the last episode of the American comedy television series The Office. It serves as the 24th and 25th episodes of the ninth season, and the 200th and 201st episodes of the series overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis, who directed the series' pilot episode. It originally aired on NBC on May 16, 2013, preceded by an hour-long series retrospective.
The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, which takes place almost a year after the previous episode "A.A.R.M.", present and past employees of Dunder Mifflin gather for the wedding of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), during which Michael Scott (Steve Carell) returns to serve as Dwight's best man. In addition, Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) finally decide to pursue Jim's dream of working in sports marketing. Finally, everyone comes together for a final round of interviews and goodbyes.
The initial idea for the finale, involving the Q&A, was thought of by Daniels during production of the third season. The episode features the return of many recurring characters, as well as Carell, whose return was kept secret for many months. Many members of the show's crew—such as episode writer Daniels—made cameos in the episode as various background characters. Jennie Tan, the founder of the largest Office fansite OfficeTally appears in the episode as a fictional version of herself asking the members of the office questions.