John Krasinski has opened up about a scene that he refused to film in The Office, in which his character Jim cheats on wife Pam.
The actor appeared in the US version of the workplace comedy from 2005 to 2013, during which time Jim and Pam would become a central couple in the show’s storyline and also fan favourites.
However in the show’s eighth season, it was suggested that Jim would kiss a temporary office administrator who takes over from Pam while she is on maternity leave. Upon learning about the plot development, Krasinski refused to shoot the scene.
“That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down,” he said in a new oral history of the show, as reported by Uproxx.
“I remember saying things that I never thought I’d say before, like, ‘I’m not going to shoot it’.
“My feeling is there is a threshold with which you can push our audience. They are so dedicated. We have shown such great respect to them. But there’s a moment where if you push them too far, they’ll never come back. And I think that if you show Jim cheating, they’ll never come back.”
The show’s creator Greg Daniels agreed to cut the scene upon Krasinski’s insistence, but stands by the idea to this day.
“I feel like that kind of worry was good in terms of the fans’ engagement,” he said.
“I needed to worry them that maybe I was going to give them a bad ending so they were happy when they got a good ending.”
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Paul Rudd told Steve Carell not to audition for The Office.