The desks have been laid out, the KPIs have been calculated and the performance reviews are coming in hot with the arrival of Australia's The Office on October 18.
It brings together a whole new set of absolute characters — who get up to some seriously funny business at a packing company named Flinley Craddick, located in Sydney's western suburbs. At the helm of the operation, as Australia's Michael Scott is the first female boss of the franchise. She goes by the name of Hannah Howard.
Brought to you by the comedic stylings of Felicity Ward, Hannah Howard is a prime example of the aloof and unconventional manager that has everyone around the building wondering, "Why are they still here?". You end up loving them anyways.
However, the road to The Office didn't come without its potholes for the now London-based Aussie. Ward told BuzzFeed Australia that landing the role as Hannah left her in tears, after years of performing stand up sets.
"To get the call, to be perfectly honest, I'm a massive pussy. I cried," she shared. "I just cried! And my manager, he said, 'I'm proud of you because you stayed'."
She also alluded to the effect of a career in the arts on people's lives, labelling the choice as one filled with "not a lot of upsides". But when it comes to silver linings, the best of them all is the opportunity to "make people laugh for a living".
And yet, it didn't stomp out Ward's enthusiasm. Especially with Jenna Fischer (AKA Dunder Mifflin's Pam Beesly) sliding into Felicity's Instagram DMs to show her support.
The story goes: "Jenna [Fischer] who has never come up on my Instagram feed before, she came up and I was like, I'm gonna send her a message. 'Hello my name is Felicity Ward, you don't know who I am but we're remaking this show you were on called The Office."
To Ward's surprise the OG Pam replied immediately saying, "I never check my DMs, it's such a coincidence I'm on here, we're so excited for you. We're all rooting for you".
So, if that's not a seal of approval we're not sure what is!
Imitating tears, the confirmation that Jenna Fischer was rooting for her prompted Felicity to say, "Steve Carell, if you do see this, please feel free to email me."
To which we say — we're going to need a copy of that email transcript.
Now, with all eight episodes out in the universe, Ward needs ride-or-die The Office fans to know one thing, "With the Australian version, they're all original scripts, they're original characters, it's very Australian humour...judge it as its own show. Watch all 8 [episodes] multiple times to keep those numbers up and then decide."
Experience Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, managing director of Flinley Craddick and see what you think.The Office is now streaming on Prime Video.
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