Watch ‘The Office’ Series Finale Unused Cold Open With ‘The Matrix’ Prank Played On Dwight
WhenThe Officeseries finale aired back in 2013, it began with a little recap of what happened to the employees of Dunder-Mifflin in the year since the documentary camera crew stopped following them. But the last episode of NBC’s hit workplace sitcom almost went back to their cold open staple of a prank played on Dwight Schrute, and you can finally see it in its entirety.
Originally teased in the cast’s table read for the series finale (a bonus feature that’s been available for some time), the original cold open finds Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) playing an elaborate prank on Dwight (Rainn Wilson) inspired by the 1999 sci-fi action blockbusterThe Matrix. Find out who offers Dwight the choice between the red pill and the blue pill in the never-before-seenThe OfficefinaleMatrixprank below.
The Office Finale Matrix Prank
Taking several cues fromThe Matrix, including the experience of déjà vu with a black cat and the delivery of a cell phone, Dwight finds himself recruited by Hank the security guard (the lateHugh Dane, honored at the end of the clip), who happens to actually be Dorpheus, the brother of Laurence Fishburne’s character Morpheus from the movie. He explains that the movie was created by his team to prepare people to accept that The Matrix is real, and now he needs Dwight’s help to fight against the machines. You’ll have to watch the full clip to see how Dwight responds.
While I do like bringing back the classic prank cold open, this clip illustrates the shortcomings of the last few seasons ofThe Office. Though the final season was able to get back to what made the series so great to begin with, this cold open is far too elaborate of a prank to be believable. Part of the charm ofThe Officewas that the cast felt like real people in the real world, but as the series went on, it started to lean into farfetched sitcom formulas, especially with Jim’s pranks. So while this clip is entertaining, it’s clear why it got cut.
The Officeis available on Peacock right now and no longer available on Netflix, but you can also catch a marathon of episodes on Comedy Central throughout this weekend.
