It is the first female-led series in The Office franchise, and the 13th overall adaptation. It is the third English-language version of The Office, after the British and American iterations.
Premise
Hannah Howard is the managing director of Sydney's branch of Australia's fourth largest packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that her Rydalmere-based branch will be shut down and everyone will go remote, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can't keep in order to keep her "work family" together.[4][5]
Cast and characters
Main
Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, the managing director of Flinley Craddick, Sydney[6]
Edith Poor as Lizze Moyle, the receptionist, front desk executive and productivity manager[6]
An Australian adaptation of The Office was first announced to be in development in May 2023. The series is the 13th adaptation in the franchise, and the third English-language series. It is co-produced by BBC Studios Australia & New Zealand, Bunya Entertainment, and Amazon MGM Studios, and is based on the BBCseries of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The adaptation was developed for Australia by Julie De Fina and Jackie van Beek, who both serve as executive producers along with Kylie Washington and Sophia Zachariou. The series is produced by Linda Micsko.[6] Gervais commented on the series, stating "I'm very excited about Australia remaking my little show from the turn of the century. Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can't wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent."[7]
Felicity Ward stars in the leading role, portraying Hannah Howard, making the Australian adaptation the first series in The Office franchise to have a female lead.[7][8] The series has been described as female-led, with many of the characters which male in the original and American iterations being adapted as females.[9]
An official trailer for the series was released on YouTube on 18 September 2024 and was met with a mostly negative reception.[11] All eight episodes were released on 18 October 2024 on Amazon Prime Video, with the series being available worldwide except for the United States.[6]
Reception
Pre-release
Upon both the series' 2023 announcement and 2024 trailer release, The Office has been negatively compared to other Australian comedy series, such as Utopia and Deadloch.[12][9]
^ abKain, Erin (24 September 2024). "New Female-Led, Australian 'The Office' Remake Looks Genuinely Terrible". Forbes. Retrieved 14 October 2024. And frankly, if you want an Australian version of Michael Scott, you should go watch the excellent female-led cop dramedy Deadloch instead. [...] I've also heard good things about the Australian office comedy Utopia, though I've never watched it myself.
