Rainn Wilson on Why 'The Office' Fans Make Him Feel Like the 'Luckiest Man Alive'

Rainn Wilson is thrilled The Office still has such a big fanbase.

The actor recently appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, where the host asked him about the viral moment he captured on social media in which his seatmate on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles was watching The Office for the entire five-hour flight without noticing that Dwight Schrute himself was sitting right beside him.

"How does it feel when you're a part of something that someone sits and absorbs for five and a half hours next to you, knowing that they're most likely eating this delicious meal and it's fulfilling them?" host Drew Barrymore asked the actor.

Wilson responded, "Well, it's been such a rollercoaster ride. You know, we were almost canceled so many times when we first started, and then we were a big hit. And then we slowly, slowly dwindled in the last several seasons; not many people were watching us. And then it went away."

The actor continued, "And then [in] like 2015, 16, 17, no one was thinking or talking about The Office. And then all of a sudden there's the advent of streaming and now it's on Peacock and then COVID [happened]. It's insane."

Wilson added, "You are so lucky to be on any TV show, and then one that lasts, you're double lucky. And then one that is loved…you know, I'm really the luckiest man alive. [The entire cast] all are to have been a part of that, which is now a phenomenon."

Though The Office ended its run in 2013, Wilson is still on TV today, starring in AMC's thriller Dark Winds.

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