The Office Producer Discusses The Controversial Jim & Pam Storyline From Season 9

The ninth and final season of The Office featured an ongoing storyline about the marital issues that Jim and Pam were facing. Things got so bad that many viewers wondered if the couple--whose loving relationship was a throughline for the entire show--might come to an end. If you thought this might happen, that was intentional, showrunner Greg Daniels said in a new interview.

He told Collider that the writers never intended to actually break up the couple. Daniels said he wanted viewers to be worried about Jim and Pam's relationship, however.

"The plan was never to split them up. The plan was just to introduce a little worry into the audience so that they'd stand up and pay attention and that there would be a little feeling of like the Act 2 break in a movie," he said. "But no there was never gonna be a split-up for them. There was always a happy ending planned."

Daniels returned as showrunner for The Office's final season. He acknowledged the anxiety people were feeling about Jim and Pam, and he said this concern helped pay off the ending to the show and make it more satisfying, Daniels said.

"It was not a happy thing for people, but I feel like the ending of the series was good and maybe it wouldn’t have been so satisfying if there hadn't have been a little bit of anxiety beforehand," he said.

It would have been a brutal move for the writers to split up Jim and Pam, as their romance and eventual marriage was one of the nicest and most wholesome parts of the show.

The Office, which is based on the Ricky Gervais show of the same name, wrapped up its nine-season run in 2013. A reboot series is a possibility, and we recently learned a little more about it.

The Office recently left Netflix (in the US, at least) to join NBC's own streaming service, Peacock. As part of the shift, Peacock is offering a special pricing promotion to encourage people to sign up. There are also new bonus features and other content that subscribers can watch on Peacock.