(Photo: NBC)
Stanley Hudson from The Office isn’t getting a spin-off after all. In 2020, actor Leslie David Baker started a Kickstarter campaign for the spin-off series and raised $336,451 from 1,640 donations. Baker played Stanley Hudson, the grumpy and disgruntled paper salesman, on all nine seasons of the NBC comedy series.
The series, titled Uncle Stan, was to revolve around Stanley as he comes out of retirement and travels from Florida to Los Angeles to help his nephew save a fledgling motorcycle/flower shop business.
COVID-19 and the current strikes have stalled the project, so Baker has decided to return people’s money. The project may still happen but, “in light of the current economic situation, we felt that this was the best course of action,” Baker wrote.
Baker released a statement about his decision on Instagram. He said the following, per Variety:
“We apologize about the delay in updates. We have been working behind the scenes to get everything on track and rewards fulfilled. We are just as excited as all of you to get this project out and truly appreciate all of your patience and support.
The project took longer than anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control. Initial delays were caused because of the COVID lockdowns and pushed us back further than expected. As things started returning to normal and we commenced reward fulfillment and preproduction, the WGA strike was announced causing us to put things on hold again. As you are all aware, SAG is now on strike and we will continue to be on hold indefinitely until an agreement is reached. We stand in solidarity with those in the entertainment industry and will do our part in supporting WGA and SAG during these times.”
“FYI, although the total funded amount shown on our Kickstarter campaign page was stated as $336,450.53, that was not the actual final amount we received,” Baker added. “A large portion of backers’ pledges were lowered, or completely dropped and never collected once the campaign was completed. The final amount that we received from Kickstarter was exactly $110,629.81. The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds, and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account.”
What do you think? Did you want to see the return of Stanley Hudson? Would you like to see an Office spin-off someday?