Steve Carell’s Final Days on ‘The Office’ Were Utter an “emotional torture” For One Sole Reason and It’ll Remind You of Rachel From ‘Friends’

Playing the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, Michael Scott, actor Steve Carell, was more than a central character in The Office. A pivot around whom the storyline, humor, and heart of the show revolved for seven long seasons, the character’s on-screen importance received full weight from the acting abilities portrayed by the 62-year-old. However, a tear-jerking seventh-season goodbye episode featured his character and thus, his exit from the show.

Interestingly, upon closer inspection, that very episode bears an uncanny resemblance to another renowned sitcom, Friends. The course of events that take place during those fateful final minutes of Michael Scott in his office almost mirrors those that happened with Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green with her friends during her outing’s last two chapters.

The Office and Friends closely mirror one another in these emotional episodes

The 22nd episode of the seventh season of The Office, aptly titled, Goodbye, Michael, featured Steve Carell giving his final performances as Michael Scott, aside from a cameo in the show’s finale. An emotional whirlwind floated around as the regional manager struck genuine and heartfelt goodbye conversations with each of his colleagues, except for Pam, for whom he left a note as she was out on errands.

Remarkably, similar events also happened in Friends when Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green gets herself prepped up to leave for Paris for a new job. The two-part finale, The One with Rachel’s Going Away Party, making up the 16th and 17th episodes of season ten of the sitcom, had Green take turns with each of her core six friends, except for Ross, and shed farewell notes.

Additionally, both shows featured character reunions at the airport. In The Office, as soon as Michael Scott walked off the camera crew, Pam rushed to hug him, exchanged a few words, and then watched him board his flight. In Friends, Phoebe took Ross to the airport, where the former couple talked from the heart, but the latter went back to the plane, anyway. However, while Scott flew away, Rachel returned to Ross, the key difference aside from tonal differences. 

Steve Carell recalled the difficulty in filming the goodbye of Michael Scott

From his very first scenes where he introduced the series’ mockumentary style to his spot on acting invoking tears in his seventh season final episode, Steve Carell carried Michael Scott to a profound on-screen legacy. As such, it was equally difficult for him to bid adieu to a role he had held for six years.

In talks with the host of An Oral History of The Office podcast, the Despicable Me star shared how he felt a mix of several emotions at once when filming that tear-jerking season seven episode.

It was almost more than I bargained for…I had [goodbye] scenes with everyone in the cast and it was emotional torture… it was like just fraught with emotion and, and joy and sadness and nostalgia.

Elaborating it further, the actor also explained how he felt an accomplishment in his character finally getting to say his final notes to each of his colleagues.

It was also really beautiful. I’d like treasure just doing that episode because it did allow me to kind of have a finality with everybody.

Steve Carell left The Office for personal commitments. While the sitcom went on for two more seasons, it faltered in ratings and viewership. The actor, on the other hand, went on to star in productions like Crazy, Stupid, Love alongside the likes of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Foxcatcher, The Morning Show, and most recently in the Ryan Reynolds starrer, IF.

The Office is available to stream on Peacock whereas Friends is available on HBO max.