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Years before Jim Parsons was dominating network television on The Big Bang Theory, he was eyeing a different sitcom behemoth: The Office. At Fox’s panel for the Television Critics Association‘s winter tour the actor opened up about the big role that almost was.
Parsons was present during a panel for Call Me Kat, Mayim Bialik’s new comedy about a 39-year-old woman looking for her own happiness and running a cat café in the process. The upcoming series is based off the fourth-wall breaking British sitcom Miranda and is set to premiere January 3. It was while discussing the challenges of adapting the series for American audiences that Parsons’ almost-Dunder Mifflin past came up.
“I would say from our end, when this was brought to our attention that this was a possibility to use this format as a jumping off point for a new series, we were very excited but nervous because it succeeds so well on its own, the original,” Parsons explained. “And the two major things are who’s going to reframe this and reshape and around who? And if you don’t have both of them the way we do, it’s really not worth doing.
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“Not that I’m a good judge of this,” Parsons quickly added. “I’ll never forget I went to audition for the pilot of the American version of The Office. This was years ago, obviously. And I was like, ‘How stupid? It’s about an office. If America wanted their own office show they would have made it by now.’ So I’m not good at telling what’s gong to stay or not.”
Wait back up. Jim Parsons auditioned for The Office? Not as a guest character or one of the later seasons’ recurring spots, but for the pilot? This timeline checks out: The Office first premiered in 2005, and The Big Bang Theory didn’t come out until two years later in 2007. So that begs the question… Who was Parsons auditioning for? Our money’s on Dwight, but but can you imagine what Jim Parsons might have been like as… Jim?
Call Me Kat premieres January 3, 2021 on FOX.
