Pictured: (l-r) Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda, Chelsea Frei as Mare, Domhnall Gleeson as Ned Sampson.
(Photo by: Aaron Epstein/PEACOCK)
“This is my favorite thing that I’ve ever been a part of,” Domhnall Gleeson proclaimed during a recent press event for The Paper.
The series features the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch in the Emmy Award-winning series “The Office” tackling a new subject when they discover a historic Midwestern newspaper and the group trying to revive it.
Joining Gleeson on the series are Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus), Chelsea Frei (Poker Face, The Cleaning Lady), Melvin Gregg (American Vandal, Snowfall), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Black Ops, A League Of Their Own), Alex Edelman (Just For Us, Unfrosted), Ramona Young (Never Have I Ever, Santa Clarita Diet), Tim Key (The Witchfinder, This Time with Alan Partridge), and Oscar Nuñez (The Office, The Proposal).
Gleeson plays Ned Sampson, the eager new editor of a historic northern Ohio newspaper entitled The Toledo Truth Teller, with Impacciatore as the former head of the paper, Frei as Ned’s new confidante, Mare, as well as Gregg, Ikumelo, Edelman, and Young as reluctant volunteer reporters. Fans of The Office will be happy to see Oscar Martinez has migrated from Scranton and is now part of The Truth Teller’s staff.
Behind the scenes, show creator Greg Daniels, who also helmed The Office, is back to oversee this series. Michael Koman co-created the series with Daniels.
Gleeson went on to say that, “I was little frightened when I heard that it was connected to The Office. But then when I read it and I realized was its own thing, I was really excited to work with the best people making comedy in America.”
He also appreciated that his character ‘was different enough from what I’d done before.’
“He [has]
hope and optimism and inspiration. And he’s still bad at his job in other ways, but he’s good at it in some ways too. And I thought that was a really cool thing to do. And they [all] cared about journalism and newspapers, and I thought that was also a good thing to get involved with,” added Gleeson.
Speaking about Ned and Mare’s connection, Frei reveals that, “Well, we talked about the relationship between Ned and Mare a lot. I think, first and foremost, they’re in love with the paper and want to make it something special. And I think during that process, they also have a lot of fun together.”
She says that while the two have the same goal, ‘[they] go about it in completely different ways.’
“I think both are successful at times, and I think sometimes they need each other,” Frei concluded.
Edelman says that a fun fact about the series is that the production team let the actors design their own workspaces.
“I thought my character should be the most irritating person, so I put all manner of toys that made a lot of racket on my desk. And there’s one toy with, like, 17 different boards that all make a different sound when you drop a marble down them. And also, there was a Nerf gun, that disappeared halfway through the season.”
All ten episodes of ‘The Paper’ will be available for streaming on Peacock on Thursday, September 4th.
‘The Paper’ has already been renewed for a second season.