Steve Carell was reluctant about making a return to The Office for the show’s finale, it has been revealed.

Carell played hapless manager Michael Scott for seven seasons before exiting the show in 2011 but he reprised his role in the season nine series finale in May 2013, where he appeared as the best man at Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin’s (Angela Kinsey) wedding.

Speaking on a recent episode of of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer, who starred as Pam Beesly on the show, said he didn’t want to return.

“Well, it was [series creator Greg Daniels] idea to have Steve come back. He had wanted that for a very long time, and he asked him pretty early in season 9,” Fischer added.

“But Steve was reluctant. He felt like Michael’s story had really ended. He didn’t want to open it back up again, and he especially did not wanna come back after two years and have this finale episode be about him. Steve really felt like, ‘My character had his ending.’ This is everybody else’s ending, and he didn’t wanna overshadow that.”

Daniels and Carell eventually came to an agreement that meant that he played a small role in the finale.

“Greg had the idea of the final episode being Dwight and Angela’s wedding, and Steve agreed Michael would be there,” Fischer said.

Kinsey added: “I believe that. I believe Michael would wanna be there for Dwight and Angela,” before Fischer continued: “It was a creative reason that was supported by history, you know.”

Earlier this year, it was also confirmed that Carell wouldn’t be appearing in the forthcoming spin-off series but he did convince Domnhnall Gleeson to take the lead role in the show.

As previously reported, the series is not a reboot The Office, and will instead focus on a new set of characters in the same universe. Greg Daniels, who developed the American version of the series, is co-creating the new show with Michael Koman.

In 2018, Carell told Collider that he would never be interested in bringing The Office back, and more recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he will not be making a cameo in the new series.

“I will be watching but I will not be showing up,” he said. “It’s just a new thing and there’s really no reason for my character to show up in something like that. But I’m excited about it, it sounds like a great concept. I love the idea – I guess it’s set in a failing newspaper company.”

Elsewhere, the Australian version of The Office recently received a divided reaction from viewers.