Many have been pining forThe Officeto be brought back to television, and now it finally is, albeit in a much different form. With the show’s popularity as strong as it’s ever been both nationally and internationally, it was only a matter of time until its popular format would eventually resonate well enough overseas that an Arabic remake of the show would be in line. Now, it appears that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
Dexerto has reported that a Middle Eastern remake ofThe Officeis officially in the works.A deal between BBC Studiosand local producer-broadcaster MBC was reached to create an Arabic remake of the show. While the most successful remake ofThe Officetook place in the United States, there have already been quite a few remakes internationally that take place in France, Germany, Canada, India, Israel among other countries. This upcoming remake will be the first remake to be exclusively Arabic.
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The show will be namedEl Maktab. Instead of the show revolving around a paper company like Dunder Mifflin, it will instead be about a packaging company. Salek Abumarh will be playing the Michael Scott roleas the unprofessional bossnamed Malik Al-Tuwaif. Egyptian filmmaker Hisham Fathi will be directing the series. The show will air on MBC and will stream on Shahid VIP.
Since the show has only been recently confirmed to be in production, there aren’t any other details besides those. In due time, there will probably be reports of who plays the “weird” Dwight Schrute-like character. There will also be reports of who will play the lovable prankster, Jim Halpert-like character and who will play his love interest aka the Pam Beesley-like character. Knowing both the UK and US versions of the show, there will probably be characters much like Jan Levinson, Todd Packer, and Roy Anderson.
What should make this upcoming remake ofThe Officeeven more appealing to diehard fans of the show is seeing how much different theculture is in the Middle Eastcompared to the United States. Anyone who’s watched the UK version and the US version could certainly see the differences between the two since the cultures in both countries are different though the show has the same setup. This could let viewers see firsthand how culture in the Middle East compares and contrast with the United States all while maintaining the same format of the show.
There’s also no telling what liberties this Arabic remake could take. In the UK version ofThe Office, David Brent was the incompetent, unprofessional boss that viewers loved to laugh at. However, over time, they felt sorry for him because he could not help himself when looking stupid once his character was fully fleshed out. Michael Scott was in that same boat to some extent, but the difference between him and Brent was that Scott was a valued asset at Dunder Mifflin in spite of his ineptitude at managing his work relationships with his employees. However, though Scott was socially inept, there was nothing malicious in him, which is why viewers still rooted for him in spite of his flaws. Viewers should be intrigued to see how those running this remake approach that role with Malik Al-Tuwaif.
The Officecan currently be watched on Peacock.
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