'The Office' Is Leaving Netflix, and Fans Are Not OK

Following the announcement that The Office will be pulled from Netflix in 2021, fans of the Steve [...]

By Allison Schonter

Following the announcement that The Office will be pulled from Netflix in 2021, fans of the Steve Carell-starring NBC sitcom are taking to social media to react.

Their outrage was prompted after Bonnie Hammer, Chairman of NBCUniversal Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises, confirmed in a statement to The Wrap on Tuesday that the series was running on borrowed time at the streamer.

"The Office has become a staple of pop-culture and is a rare gem whose relevance continues to grow at a time when fans have more entertainment choices than ever before," she said. "We can't wait to welcome the gang from Dunder Mifflin to NBCUniversal's new streaming service."

Netflix later confirmed the news, tweeting, "we're sad that NBC has decided to take The Office back for its own streaming platform" and reminding subscribers that the popular series will be available "until January 2021."

As expected, news that fans only had a limited amount of time to get their final binge watches in was met with upset.

"i'd rather die than contemplate the thought of having to stream the office on another service in 18 months," one person wrote.

"[NBC] can personally fight me if they think there gonna do that," another added.

The Office's removal from the streaming platform does not come as much of a surprise, as it has been long suspected that this was an inevitable outcome. After it was announced that an NBCUniversal streaming service was set to launch in the coming years, many suspected that it will come at the demise of Netflix's acquisition of the series.

Then, in April of this year, a report from The Wall Street Journal citing a soon-expiring contract upped the concern.

"NBCUniversal, which owns the show, licensed reruns of the comedy to the streaming-video giant years ago," the report noted. "Now, NBCUniversal is launching its own streaming service, and has begun internal discussions about removing The Office from Netflix when the contract expires in 2021, according to people familiar with the situation."

During its run on Netflix, The Office has proven to be extremely successful, and is believed to be "the No. 1 show on a monthly basis." The show is reportedly the number one series on SVOD. It was streamed over 52 billion times and was viewed nearly twice as much as the next most-viewed show.

News of The Office's impending removal has since sparked concern for other popular series on the streaming service, including Friends, Grey's Anatomy, and Parks and Recreation, which are owned by WarnerMedia, Disney, and NBCUniversal, though there are currently no plans to remove the series.

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