Hollywood actors often have their careers reduced to one major role. Having said that, isn’t it compelling how an iconic character like Batman can bring an actor everlasting fame, but also conceal the breadth of their versatility? Val Kilmer, known widely for donning the dark mask of the Caped Crusader, embodies this paradox with remarkable grace.
Prior to making his breakthrough in the 1980s with roles in comedies such as Real Genius and Top Secret, Val Kilmer began his acting career on stage. The acclaimed sequel to Top Gun, in which he reprised the role of Iceman, has brought him back into the spotlight.
Despite his early breakthrough, Kilmer charted a different course, circling the universe of TV—save for a voice role as KITT in the Knight Rider reboot and brief stints on shows like Ghost Girls and The Spoils of Babylon. Yet, amidst his avowed disinterest in television, the actor, 64, encountered a rare gem: the mockumentary brilliance of The Office (UK).
Val Kilmer’s Surprising Keen Interest in The Office
Despite his reputation for big-budget flicks like Batman Forever and Top Gun, actor Val Kilmer was drawn to small-screen sitcoms like The Office. Notwithstanding his lack of interest in television, the actor became fascinated with the “sophisticated” and “bold” humor of the show, confessing that he couldn’t get enough of the awkward and hilarious antics of Ricky Gervais’ David Brent.
Kilmer earlier admitted to The Guardian:
I don’t watch television, but I saw The Office by accident. I thought it was so sophisticated, the Victorian love story, and so bold. We’d do anything, all of us, to not work in that environment, and then I’m sitting there watching hours of it. He’s just so aggressive, Ricky Gervais. I can’t get enough.
The BBC’s British mockumentary television sitcom, The Office, which ran for only two seasons in the early 2000s, may have been short-lived, but its impact on Kilmer was indisputable. The quirky characters, the awkward romance between Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn (Lucy Davis), and the cringe-worthy moments in the office environment left Kilmer entirely hooked.
It was created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and it centers on the daily lives of office workers at the fictional Wernham Hogg paper company’s Slough branch. Gervais starred in the show as well, playing protagonist David Brent.
Later, the program was adapted into the same-titled American mockumentary sitcom television series, and as we all know, the rest is history.
The Office Reboot Confirmed for Peacock: What to Expect?
Even though The Office concluded in 2013, the show’s popularity surged when it started to stream on Netflix. One of the most popular Netflix titles, the streamer suffered when the rights were transferred back to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform (via Screen Rant). The idea of a reboot is, thus, talked about because viewers’ memories of the sitcom are still strong.
Greg Daniels created The Office, which debuted on NBC in 2005 and was based on the same-named UK series. We learned from Variety that Peacock has decided to renew the new season of the highly successful series.
The show is a mockumentary with a new cast set in the same universe, not a reboot or spinoff of The Office. Plot details for the show are now available for the first time, as the official logline reads as follows:
The documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters.
New cast members will probably join the reunion alongside a few well-known faces, even though many fans would probably prefer to see the entire original cast return. Many cast members of The Office have gone on to become actors in films or television. Some leading men, like John Krasinski and Steve Carell, are steadily advancing in their careers.
But the story of The Office reboot has arguably generated the most conjecture and has long been veiled in mystery with minimal information.