Did You Know John Krasinski Refused to Film a Scene in 'The Office'?

One of the best parts of The Office was the romance at the center of it. The relationship between Jim and Pam captured audiences' hearts and minds. They tuned in for a love that felt real, but also felt perfect for the characters, even though it was messy at times. As the seasons went on, the characters got married, had kids, fought, and eventually made their way to Austin to figure life out. 

While there were temptations along the way, neither strayed. But it turns out that was not the original plan. Showrunner Greg Daniels wanted to take things to a much messier story. They introduced a character named Cathy in later years who had a crush on Jim. Turns out, they wanted to take that crush to the next level and have Jim and Cathy make out. But John Krasinski was adamantly against it. 

Uproxx wrote about the upcoming book Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office where Krasinski tells the whole story.

In his words, “That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down, I remember saying things that I never thought I’d say before, like, ‘I’m not going to shoot it.’”

Krasinski went on to describe why he was against this character's motivation for Jim, someone he felt close to after playing him. He also was worried about whether the audience would buy into the journey.

“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.”

If you watched the show, you know the kiss never happens. That's because I think at the end of the day, people understood Krasinski was right. While a kiss like that could happen in the real world, people tuned into the show to see a story where things worked out happily. Showing the really hard times, the brutal times of a marriage, may not have left them wanting more. And it might have ruined the beautiful story that came before. 

Still, Greg Daniels did defend the idea in the book.

“I feel like that kind of worry was good in terms of the fans’ engagement, I think they knew what was coming. They were very comfortable with the show they were getting, and 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.”

The debate between actors and creators will always rage on, but I think in this instance they made the right decision. I'm all for challenging audiences, but I think there are times when you have to bend to their will as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.