The Australian Version of 'The Office' Will Hit Your Streaming Queue in October — and Here's Your First Look
As the Managing Director of Flinley Craddick, comedian Felicity Ward stars in the sitcom franchise's first series with a female lead.
It's time to clock on: come spring 2024, The Office will reopen, this time in Australia. Back in 2023, Prime Video announced that it was making the 13th international take on the hit workplace sitcom, and also the first to be set Down Under. Now, the latest version of the franchise has a release date — and a debut image of star actor and comedian Felicity Ward (Time Bandits) as Flinley Craddick Managing Director Hannah Howard.
Whether you think that David Brent was awful, awkward or a bit of both, Britain doesn't have a monopoly on cringeworthy bosses. Accordingly, after the original UK version of The Office proved a huge success two decades ago, more iterations of the comedy were always going to follow around the world. The American series became even more popular, and everywhere from Canada, France and Germany to Israel, India and Poland have similarly given the idea a go — so it should come as no surprise that an Aussie version is finally making its way to screens.
Move over Brent, and also Michael Scott — it's now Howard's turn to become the manager that no one wants but everyone has worked for. She oversees a packaging company. When she receives news that head office is shutting down her branch, with everyone working from home instead, she's determined to keep her team together. Obviously, that won't go smoothly, or there'd be no sitcom antics to be had in The Office's Aussie stint.
Joining Ward is a hefty cast spanning Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess), Shari Sebbens (Preppers), Josh Thomson (Young Rock), Jonny Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows), Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve), Susan Ling Young (Barons), Raj Labade (Back of the Net), Lucy Schmit (The Pledge), Zoe Terakes (Talk to Me) and Claude Jabbour (Last King of the Cross). Also featuring: Susie Youssef (Deadloch), Justin Rosniak (Colin From Accounts), Carlo Ritchie (A Beginner's Guide to Grief), Rick Donald (Population: 11), and Chris Bunton (Wolf Like Me).
Viewers will be able to binge Ward and company's antics, with the entire eight-episode first season of the The Office dropping on Friday, October 18 — so get your staplers in jelly ready.
As well as marking the first woman-led version of the franchise, the Australian take on The Office also features an impressive roster of female talent off-camera. Jackie van Beek (The Breaker Upperers) co-developed the series alongside Julie De Fina (Aftertaste), with both executive producers — and van Beek the setup director. Kylie Washington (Return to Paradise) is also an executive producer, with Sophia Zachariou (Ladies in Black) and Linda Micsko (The Letdown) producers.
There's no trailer yet for the Australian version of The Office, but you can check out clips from the UK and US versions below:
The Australian version of The Office will stream via Prime Video from Friday, October 18, 2024.
Top image: John Platt and Prime Video, © BBCS and Bunya Entertainment.
