'The Office' Star B.J. Novak Has a New Anthology Series in the Works

B.J. Novak starred in The Office as the temp-turned-manager Ryan Murphy from 2005-2013. He was also a writer on the series, co-created by Ricky GervaisStephen Merchant and Greg Daniels. Since then, we've seen him collaborate with his Office co-star Mindy Kaling on The Mindy Project (2013-2016).

What's up next? Well, he's working on an anthology series that will land over at FX. The series is untitled, but will feature a different cast each week. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "It will use the boldest issues of our time as a jumping-off point to tell singular, character-driven stories about the world we live in today."

That's a pretty broad description of topics, but at the same time, it sounds like they won't be shying away from the hard stuff.

The FX folks sound pretty excited, with Nick Grad, president of original programming at FX Entertainment, saying, "We have been admirers of B.J. Novak for a long time. We loved his creative twist on the anthology format, and he delivered on two phenomenal episodes. We are looking forward to going into production on the rest of the season and supporting B.J.’s ambitious vision for this project."

And Novak himself is even more excited: "Thrilled, excited, humbled — these are the words in every press release, and I can't believe how much I actually mean them. This is my dream show, and FX is the dream place to make it. When I brought it to FX, I wondered if it went too far, and they told me, you can go further. I can't wait to get started."

He recently turned to Twitter to make it officially-official:

https://twitter.com/bjnovak/status/1258141691644706816

Novak has already written and directed the pilot, which stars Lucas Hedges, Kaitlyn Dever, O'Shea Jackson Jr., George Wallace, Ed Asner and Brendan Francis Scannell. The second episode stars Jon Bernthal, Boyd Holbrook, Amy Landecker and Beau Bridges.

You can also look for Novak's 2021 mystery-thriller Vengeance, which he also wrote, directs and is set to star in. It revolves around a NYC radio host, whose girlfriend is murdered. He takes it upon himself to investigate what led to her death.

And, if that weren't enough to keep him busy, he's still doing readings for his 2014 children's book The Book With No Pictures. Like this one from March:

https://twitter.com/penguinkids/status/1243523164447158275

Do you think he's the American version of #BusyBenedict