Bob Odenkirk nearly landed role of Michael Scott in The Office… which went to Steve Carell

From all accounts, the casting of the Michael Scott character on hit NBC series The Office was the longest and among the hardest decisions producers had to make.

And as its die-hard fans know, the role eventually was given to Steve Carell, but it nearly went to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk. 

‘We were circling Bob Odenkirk. He was available. He had a great reputation in the comedy world, and he hadn’t yet become famous. He wasn’t real known,’ one of the producers said in the book, The Office: The Untold Story Of The Greatest Sitcom of The 2000s. 

The producer went on to add that Odenkirk ‘had and edge to him. His take was as funny as Steve’s, but it was darker… He was a little tougher and meaner.’

In retrospect Carell read the role as more of a ‘jerk and a douche,’ in comparison to Odenkirk who’s take was more like an ‘a**hole.’

‘The worst thing I have ever had to do ever is to tell Bob Odenkirk’s agent that he didn’t get The Office,’ casting agent Allison Jones recalled.

‘Believe me, it was a bummer to make that call and I do suspect the show would have worked with Bob Odenkirk.’ 

Things had a way of coming full circle for Odenkirk, when he played a version of his take of the Michael Scott character in the 16th episode of the final season of The Office.

The series, which received 42 Primetime Emmy Awards and five wins, went on to air for nine seasons from 2005-2013, with Carell staying aboard as the Regional Manager of the Scranton branch of a paper distribution company, known as Dunder Mifflin Inc. for the first seven seasons until 2011.

In the end things worked out more than fine for Odenkirk. He wound up landing the part of morally-compromised lawyer Saul Goodman in season two of the wildly-successful AMC series Breaking Bad in 2009, a role that would morph into a main cast member for the remaining three seasons.

And of course, Odenkirk went on to reprise the lovable and despicable Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman character as the lead in the Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, beginning in 2015. 

It has already aired five seasons to date, with a sixth and final season scheduled to premiere in 2021. 

Odenkirk and Carell have 10 Emmy nominations between them, and both have the distinction of starring in some of the most popular and acclaimed television shows of the 2000s, and possibly of all-time.