Did Dunder Mifflin Shut Down? How ‘The Paper’ Explains the Fate of ‘The Office’ Business

As the new Peacock series “The Paper” opens, we learn a few things about the fate of Dunder Mifflin — the paper business at the heart of “The Office.” A sequel of sorts to “The Office,” “The Paper” opens with a few on screen notes: “In 2005, a documentary crew started filming at a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They followed the workers in an average office, dealing with new rules of workplace behavior and the ups and downs of their personal lives. Twenty years later, they returned.”

What those documentarians found as they revisited the Scranton Business Park was Vance Refrigeration (the business next door to Dunder Mifflin, as fans of “The Office” remember well), as well as the businesses “One and Done Laser,” “Ruben’s” and “Kavala.” But apparently not in that building anymore: Dunder Mifflin.

That’s when the cameras meet up with Vance Refrigeration owner Bob Vance, played by Robert R. Shafer. “Dunder Mifflin,” recalls Bob, who marries Dunder Mifflin worker Phyllis (played by Phyllis Smith) in Season 3 of “The Office.” “Yeah, they’ve been gone for a while. Phyl and Stanley keep in touch. We both have schnoodles. Awesome dogs. Other than that, the One and Done guys are fine. Less drama, that’s for sure.”

That’s when we learn One and Done Laser has taken over the old Dunder Mifflin office. Vance helpfully points to the Scranton Chamber of Commerce website, which keeps a list of every business that’s closed in the last ten years. According to the site, Dunder Mifflin was purchased by a business called Enervate in Toledo, Ohio, in 2019.

“That’s right, I remember them asking if Phyllis wanted to move to Toledo,” Vance says. “Ha! Leave Scranton for Toledo? Make me laugh.”

Enervate sells products made out of paper, including office supplies, janitorial paper like toilet tissue and toilet seat protectors, and local newspapers. The documentarians head to Toledo to chronicle Enervate’s attempts to revive the once bustling Toledo Truth Teller newspaper, and happen to be there on the first day of the paper’s new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson (played by Domnhall Gleeson).

But the cameras also catch a familiar face: Oscar Martinez (played by Oscar Nuñez), who did indeed take Enervate up on the offer to relocate to Toledo. He didn’t expect the cameras, however, and soon learns that the waiver he signed in 2005 at Dunder Mifflin to be filmed in perpetuity still stands, even as an otherwise new cast of characters is filmed at the Truth Teller.

So what about Dunder Mifflin? Does the paper company still exist, even if its Scranton office is closed? “The Office” and “The Paper” creator Greg Daniels admits he was a bit taken aback by how much reporters and critics grilled him on the fate of Dunder Mifflin — so he’s keeping it a bit murky for now.

“It’s not that it’s no more, it’s just that they’re no longer in the Scranton branch location,” Daniels notes. “Oscar still works for Dunder Mifflin and on the set of ‘The Paper,’ there are boxes of Dunder Mifflin paper. As a company, it’s just part of this larger company called Enervate now.”

So Dunder Mifflin still exists — it’s just that the Scranton branch has been shut down.

“Or moved,” Daniels says. “It’s unclear. It’s not in the same building, I don’t know. I think there’s some value to saying, ‘hey, this isn’t about that, don’t keep thinking you’re gonna get that.’ This show has to live or die on its own merits.”

In other words, “The Paper” lives in “The Office” universe, but it’s not a reboot. Daniels isn’t completely shutting down the idea of returning to the original cast one day, however. “If somebody else is one day going to say, ‘you know what, Rainn Wilson and I have a wonderful idea for something,’ I don’t want to shut the door on anybody else’s projects in any sort of definitive way,” Daniels says. “But, I think our finale of ‘The Office’ was pretty much shutting the door on the Dunder Mifflin everybody remembers. And people seem to like the finale. It’s not like they were like, ‘Oh no, they’re going to Texas. Everything’s ruined!'”

“The Paper” is now streaming all 10 episodes from Season 1 on Peacock.