Bob Odenkirk reveals WHY he think he lost out on role of Michael Scott on The Office to Steve Carell
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Steve Carell became a household name while starring as Dunder Mifflin branch manager Michael Scott on the hit NBC series The Office.
Carell, 61, beat out a number of top comedic talent for the role, including actor Bob Odenkirk, 61.
And now Odenkirk — known for his acclaimed work on AMC's Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul — is sharing why he thinks he lost the iconic role to Carell.
He did so while recalling the audition process on the Office Ladies podcast hosted by former co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
'I am, in a strange way, a very earnest person for a person in comedy,' Odenkirk, 61, told the hosts, as per the The Hollywood Reporter.
'It's one of the reasons I think Steve Carell is a better, you know, is the one who got the role.'
Bob Odenkirk revealed why he think he missed out on the lead role of Michael Scott on The Office that ultimately went to Steve Carell
Odenkirk believes that his 'earnest seriousness' played a factor in him missing out on the lead role.
'I think I bring with me a little bit too much earnest seriousness, and it's just kinda there. And there's nothing I can do about it except play other roles where it's helpful to have that,' he explained.
Odenkirk added, 'And, you know, you just don't believe me as a purely light character. 'You just are looking for the darkness, and that's actually great in drama. That’s a plus, you know? But in comedy, it's not a plus.'
The Berwyn, Illinois native added that he and Carell had likely competed for other roles in the past, and that Carell won out for Michael Scott 'because he's better at being genuinely fun.'
And while he missed out on the lead character, Odenkirk eventually landed a small guest role on The Office, appearing in the show's ninth and final season.
During the episode Moving On, he played the manager, much like Carell's Michael Scott, of a Philadelphia real estate company where Pam was interviewing for a job.
'The idea was, Pam's gonna go in for an interview at this real estate office,' Fischer recalled of the story for the episode.
'And they thought it would be really funny if it was like her life was gonna repeat itself now in Philadelphia. And her boss is basically Michael Scott.'
'I am, in a strange way, a very earnest person for a person in comedy,' Odenkirk, 61, told the hosts, as per the The Hollywood Reporter . 'It's one of the reasons I think Steve Carell is a better, you know, is the one who got the role'; Carell seen on The Office
Odenkirk believes that his 'earnest seriousness' played a factor in him missing out on the lead role; seen in June
Ultimately, Carell played the role of Michael Scott for seven of the nine seasons of The Office
In hindsight, Odenkirk thinks the guest role was a chance for him to 'show people what I would have done' had he gotten the role of instead of Carell.
'Although, I do think that what I was doing was more a tribute to Steve because that's what I was supposed to be doing,' the six-time Emmy Award nominee explained to hosts Fischer and Kinsey, who played Pam Beesly and Angela Martin, respectively.
He added, 'My character was meant to be very much a version of what Steve had invented when he played the character.'
'We were circling Bob Odenkirk. He was available. He had a great reputation in the comedy world, and he hadn't yet become famous. He wasn't real known,' one of the producers said in the book, The Office: The Untold Story Of The Greatest Sitcom of The 2000s.
The producer went on to add that Odenkirk 'had and edge to him. His take was as funny as Steve's, but it was darker... He was a little tougher and meaner.'
In retrospect Carell read the role as more of a 'jerk and a douche,' in comparison to Odenkirk who's take was more like an 'a**hole.'
'The worst thing I have ever had to do ever is to tell Bob Odenkirk's agent that he didn't get The Office,' casting agent Allison Jones recalled.
'Believe me, it was a bummer to make that call and I do suspect the show would have worked with Bob Odenkirk.'
In the end things worked out more than fine for Odenkirk when he scored the part of morally-compromised lawyer Saul Goodman in season two of the hit AMC series Breaking Bad in 2009, a role that would morph into a main cast member for the remaining three seasons; he is pictured in a scene with Bryan Cranston as Walter White
Odenkirk went on to reprise the lovable and despicable Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman character as the lead in the Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, beginning in 2015
The series, which received 42 Primetime Emmy Awards and five wins, went on to air its nine seasons from 2005-2013 with Carell staying aboard as the Regional Manager of the Scranton branch of a paper distribution company, known as Dunder Mifflin Inc., for the first seven seasons until 2011.
In the end things worked out more than fine for Odenkirk when he scored the part of morally-compromised lawyer Saul Goodman in season two of the wildly-successful AMC series Breaking Bad in 2009, a role that would morph into a main cast member for the remaining three seasons.
And of course, Odenkirk went on to reprise the lovable and despicable Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman character as the lead in the Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, beginning in 2015.
