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To say that The Office has a good run would be an understatement. Though the show struggled to be understood in its first season, it eventually found its stride. For nine seasons and 201 episodes, the cast and crew gave the hit comedy their all. So, when the show finally ended, there was a myriad of emotions that bubbled up and over.

The Office cast
‘The Office’ cast: Ed Helms as Andy Bernard, Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin, Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer, Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin, Paul Lieberstein as Toby Flenderson, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton, John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez, B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard, Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone, Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson, Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor, Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin | NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

Though some of the cast members had established careers prior to the show, for many people, The Office was their big break. John Krasinski, for example, was ready to quit acting before he secured the role of Jim Halpert. And for Mindy Kaling, the show served as a launchpad for both her writing and acting careers. In addition to writing fantastic episodes like “Niagra” and “The Dundies” she also played Kelly Kapoor on the show.

‘The Office’ was a life-changing experience for most of the cast and crew

In an interview Daily Actor, Krasinski got candid about what The Office meant to the cast. “I think for so many people this wasn’t just a job, and there’s no way it could be just a job,” the A Quiet Place Part II director shared. “This was a huge incredibly emotional family and connection that we all had.”

But just because the cast and crew valued working on The Office doesn’t mean it was all fun and games. The show was a massive undertaking. The cast and crew actually put a lot of their personal lives and experiences into the show. For example, B.J. Novak shared that his arguments with Kaling often got written into the show. Since everyone was so incredibly involved with the show, finishing it was something of a cathartic experience. In an interview with NPR, Novak shared the conflicting feelings that he had on the very last day of filming.

B.J. Novak reveals that nearly everyone was ready to be done with the show after nine seasons

“I cried,” Novak shared about the last day on The Office set. “It was hard. I think we were all so ready to be done with it because it had been so grueling for so long. I’m getting choked up now. The last shot that I filmed … it was Mindy and I running off into the sunset together. It had an awfully dark undercurrent, which was that I was abandoning my baby, that I had left at the wedding to — to run off with her. I remember, it was a sunset, it was Mindy.”

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Continuing on, Novak shared that The Office finale paralleled his real life in some ways. “It really blended the reality and the workplace that Dunder Mifflin was where I worked for nine years and I had a lot of complaints about it and a lot of frustrations and a lot of disappointments, along with all of the ecstatic moments,” he shared. “But when it finally was over, it was sad.”

‘The Office’ cast and crew worked hard to make the show amazing

We can certainly understand why the cast and crew of The Office were both ready to move on and emotional that the show was ending. The cast and crew may have had a grueling time making the show, but they managed to produce something really special.

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