As you may’ve heard already, NBCUniversal announced earlier this week that it’s secured the exclusive domestic streaming rights to the entire series of mockumentary sitcom The Office for a five-year period. What that means is that unfortunately, Michael Scott and co. will be leaving Netflix – where we’ve been able to watch them for years now – and heading over to NBCU’s new service, which is said to be launching in mid-2020.
Unlike the new streaming programs to be released from Disney, WarnerMedia, and Apple, NBC’s offering will actually be totally free. Though that does come with a drawback, as we’ll have to deal with advertisements. And while the fact that we won’t have to pay to watch it anymore may soften the blow a bit, fans of The Office are still pretty upset about it leaving Netflix. So much so, that a new petition has now sprung up on Change.org.
Yes, another day, another petition, and this one calls on NBC to allow the show to stay on Netflix. At the time of writing, it’s already amassed a whopping 29,000 signatures, with the goal being 35,000. And at the rate it’s growing, it’ll likely hit that milestone pretty soon.
Of course, this petition – no matter how successful it is – is unlikely to do anything to sway NBC, but it’s still nice to see that even after all these years, the show has such a loyal and vocal fanbase. It’s well earned, too, as The Office was truly in a class of its own and not many series have been able to match it in the time since it’s left the air.
In fact, there’s even been some talk of doing a potential reboot or revival, given how much love there still is for Michael Scott and the gang, and though all’s gone quiet on that front as of late, it’s good to know that at least for the next few years, we’ll still be able to revisit all our favorite episodes on Netflix before the show departs the streaming service in 2021.