How You Can Watch The Office After It Leaves Netflix
The Office had a good run on Netflix, but as of December 31, 2020, the Dunder Mifflin crew is returning to the NBCUniversal family. On January 1, 2021, the members of the Scranton branch will kick the year off at their new home on Peacock, but fans who have grown accustomed to watching the comedy on a loop are in luck: The first two seasons of The Office will be streaming on the service for free.
Unlike Netflix, Peacock has an ad-supported free tier that allows anyone (who resides stateside) to watch a select portion of the streamer's library for free. So if you don't want to sign up for another streaming subscription, then you can watch episodes like "Diversity Day," "The Dundies," and "Casino Night" without handing over your credit card information. However, if you want to watch all nine seasons then you're going to need to subscribe to Peacock.
As of writing, the streamer offers two paid tiers: $4.99/month with ads, and Peacock Premium Plus which is $9.99/month without ads. And while season 2 of The Office is undeniably a classic, the cost of the paid service may be worth it for superfans who have grown accustomed to having instant access to all of the NBC comedy on Netflix. Plus, Peacock is giving paid subscribers something extra special to look forward to — brand new The Office content.
Peacock isn't just adding all nine seasons of The Office to its library, it's adding extended episodes, too
When The Office makes the move from Netflix to Peacock, its new streaming home is splashing out on special content for fans, including the option to watch "Superfan Episodes" which will feature new scenes that were previously cut for time. In a statement to Variety, series creator Greg Daniels shared that he combed through the show's old dailies with the episodes' original editors to find scenes that were fun, but ultimately didn't make it into the original cut due to NBC's time constraints.
Purists don't have to worry about beloved scenes like Kevin's chili escapade being tampered with though, because the extended episodes will be available alongside the original cuts. In addition to the extended episodes, Peacock has a whole lineup of The Office bonus content for fans including curated episode collections, behind-the-scenes features and interviews, a 24-7 channel called The Office Zen featuring ambient office sounds, and clip playlists.
It's clear that Peacock is betting big on The Office being a major draw for the fledgling streaming service, and as a result, fans are getting whatever The Dundies equivalent of the red carpet treatment is. The only catch is, if you want all of the bonus content, you'll have to become a premium subscriber, but if you're good with watching seasons 1 and 2 on repeat, then once The Office leaves Netflix, you'll still be able to hang out with Jim and Pam — with or without a subscription.