‘The Office’ Star Jenna Fischer Opens Up About Bittersweet Cast Reunion for New Ad Campaign
Key members of The Office cast have reunited for a new AT&T Business ad campaign and Pam Beasly herself, Jenna Fischer spoke about the bittersweet occasion.
Fischer starred on the series for the entirety of its nine seasons, from 2005 until 2013. She’s joined in the ad by Rainn Wilson (the officious Dwight Schrute), Craig Robinson (warehouse foreman Darryl), Kate Flannery (rambunctious single mother Meredith), Brian Baumgartner (accountant Kevin), and Creed Bratton (playing an identically-named version of himself).
The ad shows how AT&T’s Next Level Network benefits small businesses with an invention supposedly conceived by Wilson, dubbed the “Sleep with Rain Pillow” which has speakers installed within it.
"It was so much fun and totally seamless," Fischer enthusiastically told People about the reunion. "We locked into our chemistry together immediately. It was so thrilling… It was like getting to play with your winning football team one more time. It was so great."
But while Fischer enjoyed getting the band back together, she wished it wasn’t so fleeting. “It was over too fast. I wish it had gone longer,” she lamented. "I think Andy [played by Ed Helms] had a line where he says, 'If only you knew you were in the good old days when you were in them.' I'm paraphrasing, but it's that idea."
"And, listen, we knew we had a great thing when we were filming The Office,” she admitted. “But this was that chance to go back and re-experience that magic for just a moment, and that is such a gift to be able to do that," she explained.
Fischer’s favorite part of the shoot was getting to riff freely with Robinson, whom she rarely got paired with on the original series.
"When I was on The Office … the characters of Pam and Daryl, we were the voice of reason a lot of the time. And we didn't get teamed up very much for storylines because they would always have to team us up with an unreasonable person so that we could be the reasonable person," she explained.
The two actors were thrilled to work together on the AT&T ad, so much so that the crew had a hard time getting them to turn off. "[We] would not stop improvising,” Fischer laughed. "We were milking it.”
The Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story star is now hoping for a sequel to their ad, except with a larger cast of Office characters. "I want to do another AT&T shoot and I want to have even more people pop in,” she said. “That would be my dream."
"I don't know how to make that happen. But I mean, truly, that was so much fun," she continued, adding how the ad was a sweet spot where the cast was able to reprise their relationships without tarnishing the legacy of their classic sitcom.
“We were getting to have our comedic chemistry without having to worry about, 'Are we messing up the story and the lore of our characters of The Office?'” Fischer said. “So the AT&T commercial gave us an opportunity to work together again in a really beautiful way."
While it remains to be seen if fellow Office alums Steve Carell, John Krasinski, or Mindy Kaling will join Pam, Dwight, and the rest of the gang for a new AT&T spot, she did put to bed rumors that the cast wasn’t on speaking terms at the end of production.
"We [still] have a text thread. It's called Office Peeps, and we all text on it, send pictures and updates and all the things you have on a text thread," Fischer confirmed. " We just have our text thread. But then, we all run into each other and get together on the side. But we have our text thread, it's going strong."
All nine seasons of The Office are currently streaming on Peacock. You can check out the new AT&T Business ad below.