The Office star shares reason he jumped at spin-off opportunity despite no other co-stars joining

One of the stars of the American version of The Office has shared the reason why he jumped at the chance of joining the cast of a new spin-off, despite no other original co-stars signing up.

The Paper is a brand new show from one of the creators of the US iteration of comedians Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's original creation. Despite trepidation from dedicated fans, The Office: An American Workplace would go on to become one of the most beloved sitcoms, running for nine seasons.

Rumours ofspin-offs and reboots have long been reported although nothing ever came of them. However, more than a decade later, a brand new show is set to continue its legacy.

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The Paper's premise states that the same documentary crew who followed the employees of Dunder Mifflin, are returning with their new subject, a local newspaper in a city of Ohio. It aims to give the show the same mockumentary style The Office was famed for.

However, there will mostly be a brand new set of characters to be introduced. One familiar face returning however is Oscar Nunez who will reprise his role of accountant Oscar Martinez.

The show itself is co-created by comedian and writer Michael Koman along with Greg Daniels. Daniels was a writer for Seinfeld and The Simpsons in his career before creating animated series King of the Hill.

He also helped develop The Office for American television originally and co-created Parks and Recreation with Mike Schur, as well as Prime Video series Upload and Netflix's Space Force. It is this pedigree, that gave Oscar the confidence to sign up for The Paper.

When asked about if he was concerned returning as his character in an exclusive chat with Screen Time, he said: "No, no, it's great. Well it's my old boss and we were very much in good hands. With Greg Daniels and also Michael Koman."

He continued: "Yeah, so he (Daniels) had this idea and we started talking about it, and lo and behold. Before we knew it, we're there. I mean, he's a man of his word. And, you know, he's done this before. He's done a bunch (of shows). So it's cool to see how he did that. He has a thought and it became a show. It's incredible."

Oscar also revealed that he wasn't allowed to tell any of his former co-stars on The Office about the show saying 'it was a big secret' kept from everyone. However, when asked if he could hypothetically pick any former coworker to join him in the newsroom at Toledo, he didn't hesitate.

He replied: "I think I would always say Idris Elba. I don't know why he's being dragged into this but he is." Oscar went on to praise the multi-talented actor and admired him for his political activeness.

Elba has previously worked alongside the government to help end Ebola in Western Africa and campaign against knife crime in the UK alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He also played the role of Charles Miner in seven episodes of The Office.

As a result, Oscar said: "I would make him (Idris) Political Correspondent or something. He's someone who really works to make a change."

The Paper is streaming on Sky and NOW from September 5.