by Gill Pringle in LA
Twenty years ago, we were all a little sceptical at the prospect of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s iconic workplace mockumentary The Office being re-spun for American audiences.
But – as we all know now – the US version proved a massive success, thrusting Steve Carell and John Krasinski into the spotlight and fast becoming one of the most beloved sitcoms in American history.
Fast forward to today and Domhnall Gleeson is poised to occupy a similar spot in our hearts when the documentary crew that immortalised Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch in The Office returns to examine the inner workings of a struggling Midwestern newspaper.
As The Paper’s Ned Sampson, Domhnall is the overly enthusiastic new editor of ‘The Truth Teller’ – a man who grew up idolising Clark Kent rather than Superman.
“He’s very romantic about journalism because he hasn’t done it since he was in college, so he’s obsessed. He doesn’t know the reality of what it is now. It’s like your first girlfriend. It’s painted with rose-tinted glasses,” says Gleeson, who lent his quirky charm to roles in movies Anna Karenina, Ex Machina and Brooklyn, becoming a household name as Ron Weasley’s big brother Bill in two Harry Potter films.
But today, his starring role in The Paper as a likable newsman promises to reach a whole new audience.
He’s trying not to get too ahead of himself. “You never know which are the ones that are going to change your actual life. And if you try to guess which one it’ll be, you’ll always be wrong. So, I’m just like, ‘deal with it when it happens.’ You can’t make plans. I think it’s just a silly thing to do,” says the actor who is equally at home playing the villain as he did in portraying evil General Hux in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
The son of Oscar-nominated actor Brendan Gleeson, Domhnall knows that there are no guarantees in show business.
“My parents kept us optimistic about the world and about what the world can be. And I think that can be really difficult – and they didn’t let the other stuff creep in. I think that is a beautiful gift to give,” says the actor who still lives close to his family in Dublin.
“I look at my dad, who’s doing a play at the moment in Dublin [Conor McPherson’s The Weir], which he’ll then do in London. And he’s 70. Seeing him leave the door to go out and do something – which I do think is scary, to go and do a play. It doesn’t matter how old you are. I did a play three years ago [Enda Walsh’s Medicine at the Edinburgh International Festival] and I was crying during the daytime because I was so scared of it.
“But seeing somebody continue to challenge themselves – and not give themselves the easy road, I think what an example to set!” says Gleeson, 42.
In approaching his role in The Paper, Domhnall took advice from Richard Curtis, having first broken out as a romantic leading man in Curtis’ time-traveling romcom About Time in 2013.
Talking with his mentor led to Ned Sampson’s memorable line about preferring Clark Kent over Superman.
“When I was a kid, I loved Superman. So, actually, that bit came about through talking to Richard Curtis – who has written some of the best sitcoms ever – about how to be at the centre of a television comedy. And he said: ‘Your first joke should encapsulate who the character is in some way. You don’t have to say who he is, but it should show who he is and how he’s going to function.’ And so, the Superman thing came from that.
“And I was really happy with how it ended up in the show, because I think it’s so true of him. He looks at this person who everyone else considers the nerd and he sees the guy who’s really saving the world. I just thought, that was great… but in my own life I preferred Superman!” he laughs.
His role on The Paper – trying to buoy his forlorn news team who have long abandoned any joy in journalism, several of whom aren’t even journalists in the first place – has given Domhnall renewed respect for the media, shadowing local journalists in Ohio where the fictional “Truth Teller” is based.
While Greg Daniels adapted and was showrunner on the US version of The Office to great acclaim and multiple Emmys, the characters remained in his head long after the show aired its 2013 finale.
He didn’t want to simply reboot the original series or recast the characters, instead creating a new series that shared the tone of the original one. “When I adapted The Office and wrote my version of the pilot, I originally called it The Office: An American Workplace,” recalls Daniels.
“And in season 9, the documentary airs under that name. The impetus for The Paper is that it’s the 20th anniversary of the original documentary, and the same crew goes back to see what’s become of all the people they followed at Dunder Mifflin.
“So, when the documentary crew from The Office does a ‘where-are-they-now’ follow-up on Dunder Mifflin, this leads them to a Midwestern conglomerate called Enervate, who own various paper-related products – mainly toilet tissue and toilet seat protectors – but also a struggling Toledo newspaper called ‘The Truth Teller’.
“And it’s here that they discover where Oscar now works,” he says, referring to The Office’s only holdover, Oscar Nuñez, who played accountant Oscar Martinez in The Office, now balancing the books in Toledo.
“Once we talked about the larger idea that this could be the same crew following up on that story, we knew it would be great to have Oscar because he continues to work for the company,” explains Daniels.
“So, the crew becomes very interested in the story of this historic but struggling local paper with its idealistic young editor trying to revive it,” says Daniels.
Naturally, The Paper is light-hearted in tone, although it was impossible for Gleeson to take on the role without taking a keen look at the state of journalism today: “I’ve always understood the importance of journalism. I think maybe I’ve not always understood what it takes to do it and to do it well, but I always had a huge amount of respect for everybody,” he says.
“And it’s amazing to see the reality of the day to day, and it becomes even more impressive, once you’ve seen what people are up against, just to keep going. Speaking truth to power, all that stuff is incredibly important,” says the actor who subscribes to three Irish newspapers.
“I live very close to the centre of Dublin, so, the reason local newspapers are so important is to pay attention to the places that are not at the centre of the news all the time. Anywhere you go, reading the local newspaper is always super-interesting,” he adds.
The Paper is streaming from 4 September 2025
