The Office, fittingly, is never going to let us go. We’re clearly always going to be tethered to a sitcom desk. And not just because we can’t stop watching old reruns. The franchise that started in the UK before making waves across the Atlantic is still going strong. An upcoming spinoff will return the show to U.S. airwaves (likely) in 2025. But before it does, we’ll have another way to get our fix of workplace comedy with a very different kind of boss. Well, not that different. Because while the new trailer from Prime Video’s Australia remake of The Office features the franchise’s first-ever woman boss, she reminds us a whole lot of David Brent and Michael Scott.
Meet Hannah Howard (played by Felicity Ward), manager of the latest iteration of The Office. She’s heading up the Aussie version of the show, the first iteration in any country to ever star a woman. This trailer also introduces Lizzie (played by Edith Poor), who is clearly the show’s answer to “Dwight.” Steen Raskopoulos’ also joins them as Nick, who looks to be Australia’s version of Jim. Of course you can’t have a Jim without a Pam, and Shari Sebbens’ Greta will fill that role.
The rest of the cast includes What We Do in the Shadows‘ alum Jonny Brugh as Lloyd, who takes his job so seriously he lives at it. And Josh Thomson plays Martin, whom we already empathize with.
They all work at the fictional packing company Flinley Craddick. But its boss isn’t the show’s only twist. It will also see its characters responding to a post-COVID world. Here’s what Australia Prime Video said about the new boss show when it was first announced:
When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.
We’re confident she’ll only be able to do some of that. And even less of it well. We’ll find out just how much when Australia’s The Office debuts at Prime Video on October 18.