‘The Umbrella Academy’ and ‘The Office” Spin-Off You Wish Existed
With The Office still continually popular, it might sound strange to think fans would connect that show with something like Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. After all, with latter sci-fi show about adopted kids with super powers, how would it fit in with a classic office comedy?
There is a fun connection, namely through The Umbrella Academy’s The Commission. Those not familiar with this office setting should know it’s really called The Temps Commission and has the mere task of making sure the space-time continuum has no blips.
Headed by a board of directors, it does work very similarly to The Office with interesting parallels to the latter show’s characters. Fans want an assimilated spinoff.
What would a spinoff show about The Commission look like?
On Reddit, threads often pop up wishing for a spinoff show where two different shows blend into one. As a form of fan fiction, some of them are fun to read. One recent mashup wanting to connect The Commission with The Office was arguably one of the most creative seen in a while.
Many of the similarities between the characters on The Office with those who run The Commission are almost beyond coincidence. What would such a show look like if The Commission managed to have its own spinoff show?
It could happen considering many fans want a Klaus and Ben spinoff. The actors who play them (Robert Sheehan and Justin H. Min) recently expressed that they would love to do a spinoff show with their characters.
In the meantime, fans have to go on things like the above Reddit thread where visitors attempted to match up The Office characters with those at The Commission.
Which ‘The Office’ characters fit The Commission characters?
One of the easiest matchups for the two shows would be Jan (from The Office) assimilating with The Handler. Anyone who knows the personalities of both will know why.
Yes, as Vice President of Sales at Dunder Mifflin, Jan Levinson was the nemesis of Michael Scott in The Office. This really is not too far away from The Commission’s The Handler (played by Kate Walsh) in wanting to take over the organization with her own questionable ideas.
Matching those two would be sheer perfection, even if other characters align nearly as well. For instance, one Reddit user noted this: “Herb is clearly the Jim for this.”
As another brilliant connection, one can definitely see The Commission’s Herb possessing Jim Halpert’s personality, particularly in being a supervisor putting up with a superior trying to drive him crazy.
Other ‘The Office’ characters who connect to The Commission
Wait, it goes even further! Many of the parallels between The Commission characters and The Office are almost eerie. Yet another connection no one can deny is Klaus and Ben are very similar to Michael and Dwight at Dunder Mifflin. Part of this comes in how dead Ben looks out for Klaus, much like Dwight did with Michael.
At the same time, Ben and Klaus bicker as all brothers do. Their arguing might remind one of how Michael and Scott did the same for years in every situation.
All of these connections are eye-opening and makes one wonder whether the showrunners of The Umbrella Academy were fans of The Office. Did they intentionally bring many of the same personality traits as a tribute to the show? There is no official word on that, if having some personnel changes as much as The Office did during its long run.
More than a few Reddit fans above are serious about such a spinoff show. One even mentioned Rainn Wilson getting involved, something only existing in the realms of fan fantasy. Perhaps The Umbrella Academy will at least acknowledge the sitcom nod in a future episode to give no further doubts.
