Steve Carell Explains How Making New Series “Rooster” Reminded Him of “The Office”

Brenton BlanchetSun, March 8, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

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Steve Carell attends the March 3, 2026 premiere of HBO's 'Rooster' in New York CityCredit: Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty -

Steve Carell says there was an aspect of making his new comedy Rooster than reminded him of his work on The Office

The HBO series stars Carell as author and family man Greg Russo, alongside fellow castmates Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, John C. McGinley and Lauren Tsai

Rooster premieres March 8 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO

Steve Carell's new comedy isn't based in Scranton, but it has an element that reminded him of his Dunder Mifflin days when he played Michael Scott on The Office.

Carell, 63, stars in HBO's new series, The Rooster, as Greg Russo, an author who wants more from life. He appears in the Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses-created project alongside Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, John C. McGinley and Lauren Tsai.

"It just felt like a true ensemble," Carell said of his costars at a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 3 in New York City. "You don’t know what the energy’s going to be like, you don’t know what each of them are going to be like as people. But there was just such a pervasive kindness and generosity. And, honestly, it reminds me of my experience on The Office in terms of that."

Reflecting on his time on the NBC hit, Carell explained that the complication of people working together was part of its magic. "We were an ensemble and we shared — and that includes cast, crew, writers, producers, everybody. It was like, we just wanted it to be good," he said.

He also called out the connection he had with Clive, who plays his on-screen daughter in Rooster, out Sunday, March 8. "When Charly and I first met, I mean, it was our first table read — it was the first time that we met in person. And I just knew instantly — well, I knew instantly on Zoom — that she was the one to play my daughter."

He added, "All of the actors turned out to be the same way."

Steve Carell as Greg Russo in 'Rooster'Credit: HBO

In Rooster, Carell's Russo finds himself over-involved in his professor daughter's life amid her rocky marriage, and makes a decision that leads to a hilarious chain of events. The character, Carell said, is a "fairly confident guy" who "maybe" has some "rough edges." There's new territory in the role, but Carell doesn't specifically seek out character types that he hasn't played before, he explained.

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"It’s mostly a matter of people that I would like to work with and creators that I’d like to work with," he said during the event. "And I was a huge fan of Bill and Matt, and when they called me, I thought, 'Well, this could be something really special.' A partnership with people that you admire. That’s what I’m most intrigued by, and to work with, you know, great actors."

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Steve Carell on 'The Office' in 2005Credit: Justin Lubin/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

Carell previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the cast's ability to bond sold him on the show, too. “There’s an art in casting, and Greg Daniels had the same knack on The Office as Bill [Lawrence]. He cast a bunch of people that just genuinely cared about each other and really enjoyed seeing each other every day and became real friends — not just work friends, but lifelong friends," Carell said. "That’s the same sense I got with this group.”

He added, “Bill told all the actors at the first table read, ‘Within a couple of weeks, I want you all to have an exponentially greater percentage of ownership of your character.’ He invited people in to make the characters their own, to make them feel lived in and really breathe life into them. Each week the show changes and it gets a little more complex and a little more nuanced and the relationships become deeper and richer and funnier.”

Tarses and Lawrence previously told PEOPLE that Rooster sees Carell being "really funny again and doing a straight comedy" for the "first time in a minute." As Lawrence put it as a comedy writer, "there's none of us that weren't drastically affected by the way that Steve does comedy, and I hadn't seen him do a big comedy-forward project in a long time."

Rooster debuts Sunday, March 8 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

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