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The Office is beloved by its many fans even though it’s been off the air for years. As with many popular shows, a number of conspiracy theories have arisen about some aspects of the show. One rather wild one centers on one of the show’s central characters possibly having written the show. That character is Jim Halpert. So what exactly is the theory that states that The Office was written by none other than Jim Halpert? 

What is ‘The Office’ about? 

The Office debuted in 2005 on NBC. The show is an ensemble piece about a Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of a fictional paper company called Dunder Mifflin.

The show’s main focus is incompetent, bumbling manager Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell). He’s is known for his cringe-worthy antics with his fellow coworkers, outside observers, women, and pretty much anyone he came into contact with. Scott is flanked by his sycophantic assistant Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and a talented cast of others. 

The show is filmed in a documentary style — characters are often interviewed, speaking directly into the camera. The show was based on an earlier UK version with the same title, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

While the show had many similarities — many of the characters in the US version were adaptations of characters in the UK version — both were unique in their own way. Two of the show’s main characters were Pam Beesly (played by Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski). 

Who was Jim Halpert? 

John Krasinski of 'The Office'
John Krasinski of ‘The Office’ | Byron Cohen/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Halpert is one of Dunder Mifflin’s top salesmen, sharing a desk with Dwight and sitting across from Pam. At the start of the show, he is hopelessly smitten with Pam.

Unfortunately for him, over the course of the first two seasons, Pam is engaged to Roy, one of the workers in the warehouse. At the end of season two, Jim confesses his love for her. She rebuffs his advances, so he requests a transfer to the company’s Stamford, Connecticut branch, and begins dating Karen Filippelli (played by Rashida Jones).

Eventually, Jim and Pam get together. They end up getting married and having children before the show reaches its conclusion. 

The show’s “mockumentary” format saw Jim often looking at the camera, either to smirk in amazement or frown in bemusement. While Michael is the show’s main character, Jim has an “everyman” quality where it seemed as though the viewer was almost looking at the events through his eyes and rooting for him to succeed. 

The fan theory that says The Office is written from Jim Halpert’s perspective

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The site Mental Floss compiled some of the show’s best fan theories. With such a loyal fan base, the show had plenty of wild conspiracy theories explaining different aspects of it. One of the wilder theories came from a Reddit thread that surmises that Jim actually wrote the show. 

If you step back and think about it for a moment, the theory is actually quite plausible. Jim is very much portrayed as the hero of the show. His pursuit of Pam is framed as a noble one throughout the show’s first three seasons, despite the fact that she’s already in a committed relationship (albeit a largely unhappy one).

Jim also always looks like the hero compared to the somewhat villainous Dwight and the ineffective Michael. Very few other characters outside Jim and Pam are written as sympathetic, the post points out. Jim also never gets punished by Michael, despite playing many pranks on Dwight that would have sent any actual HR rep through the roof. 

The idea that the show was written by Jim is kind of a genius in that light. While that likely wasn’t the creators’ intention, it makes sense. 

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