Audition Tape Reveals 'The Office' Alternate Version

Almost 6 months ago, as The Office neared the end of its 9th and final season, cast member Rainn Wilson (who plays Dwight Schrute) posted a sign-in sheet for the first round of casting for the NBC show.  Some of the names on the list were rather intriguing—Adam Scott was auditioning for the part of Jim Halpert, as was Hamish Linklater. The call sheet is unaltered, and you can see these very names scribbled and locked in 2003.

Entertainment Weekly raised the fascinating premise of The Office That Never Was when they posted a compilation of audition tapes (that will be part of the forthcoming season 9 DVD) showing the likes of Seth Rogen (auditioning for Dwight), Bob Odenkirk (reading for Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell);  John Cho and Adam Scott for (each offering their takes on Jim Halpert, the part that ultimately went to John Krasinski). Scott’s idea of  Jim was similar to Krasinski’s—slightly disaffected, sardonic—though a bit more of a depressive, similar to Scott’s substance-abusing former actor on Party Down.  John Cho at Dunder-Mifflin would have probably have caused the writers to think twice when writing Steve Carell’s improv character named Ping, a medley of heavily accented Asian stereotypes.

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