Fans of “The Office” would be familiar with Oscar Nuñez—in fact, you could ask any of them and they would wax poetic to you about how much they love his character Oscar Martinez, the reserved know-it-all accountant of Dunder Mifflin. Over a decade later, Oscar Martinez is back to check the books of a new company—the Toledo Truth Teller, a historic but now-struggling Midwestern newspaper—in the follow-up spinoff series “The Paper” that’s now streaming on HBO Max!
In an exclusive interview with WhenInManila.com, Oscar Nuñez shares with us what brought him back to “The Paper,” while his costars Alex Edelman and Gbemisola Ikumelo discuss what makes the spinoff series familiar yet different to fans of the OG.
Oscar Nuñez as Oscar Martinez in “The Paper”
WIM: Without sharing any spoilers, what can we expect from “The Paper that sets it apart from “The Office,” but also, what similarities will these two shows share?
Alex: There are lots of similarities, obviously. Same camera crew, same sense of fun, same talking bear. But honestly, it’s a whole different show.
Oscar: If you love “The Office” and you love “Parks and Recreation”, I think you’re going to love it.
Gbemisola: I think it’s a show that builds on the cinematic universe of Greg Daniels, but it’s its own thing, and it’s its own beautiful motley crew of these people who are in over their heads, and it’s so fun to find them trying and watching how they try and fail and fail and try. It’s great.
WIM: Oscar, you’re a fan favorite character of the OG show. How did you feel when you were cast in this new mockumentary series and what can we expect to see from your character this time?
Oscar: It’s the same guy in a different town meeting new people and new friends and all that. I didn’t have to audition for the character. Greg Daniels had the idea and he said, “What do you think if we bring your character?” I was, of course, thrilled. Then I was like, “Well, I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Then he started talking about the cast and said, “Alex Edelman’s in the cast.” I said, “We can still be successful. Let’s give this a shot.”
Alex: There’s this scene that I love with Oscar involving a Pringles can, and it is just the best scene in the series! (laughs) It really fills it out. It’s just so much fun. The show is such a blast. You can expect adventures, hijinks, and lots and lots of jokes.
Oscar: Mayhem, even!
WIM: For Alex and Gbemisola, since both of you are coming from the world of comedy, how did you develop your own characters for the show, making them unique in their own way?
Gbemisola: I think for me, because I was in the writer’s room as well for this, it was a really interesting balance of trying to figure out how much to advocate for my character as an actor, but also contribute for the greater good of the writing and the story. And eventually, I kind of felt like, “Actually, no, there is some stuff that I really want to fight for with this character.” I ended up writing a series bible for the character, talking about everything from her birth to her present to her future. What happened was this character evolved from what originally was looking like she was going to be an overachiever and this sort of character who’s really a go-getter to a character who is a little bit of a burnout and really uninterested in things and is a little bit smart, but very, very, very unmotivated. And that then changed the trajectory of this character, which I think was a lot more fun for me to play. And it changed everything from her wardrobe being beige to her getting to wear sparkly pink boots.
Alex: I developed my character off Gbemisola’s character. Gbemisola’s character is a bit cool, a bit of a burnout. And so I made my character the most normal, irritating guy for someone like that to sit next to.
The volunteer reporters of Toledo Truth Teller
“The Paper” follows the same documentary crew that covered the lives of the workers at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton, Pennsylvania branch, who are now pursuing a new story with the Toledo Truth Teller, a dying newspaper trying to resurrect itself with volunteer reporters.
You can stream all 10 episodes of “The Paper” on HBO Max today.
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