Steve Carell to Star in Space Force Series at Netflix

When Donald Trump and the executive branch of the U.S. government announced the creation of a sixth division of the armed forced called “Space Force,” many of us had the same idea. Space…Force? That’s the name? That sounds like a generic Star Trek ripoff you’d find on the front of a DVD in a Lagos street market. 

Steve Carell and Greg Daniels, star of and creator of NBC’s The Office, respectively, had a slightly different idea altogether. This is going to get us that sweet Netflix money.

Netflix announced today that it has greenlit a new series from Carell and Daniels based on the Space Force idea. Carell and Daniels will produce and Carell will star. The series is described as a workplace comedy (hey, that sounds familiar!) about the men and women tasked with creating the actual Space Force based off of the President’s demented ramblings. 

Now that’s a teaser, friends. The Richard Strauss 2001: A Space Odyssey music plays over very basic, mundane facts of what Space Force will be tasked with. The goal of the branch is to “defend satellites from attack” and “perform other space-related tasks” Or something.

While this isn’t necessarily The Office sequel or reboot we were all looking for, we’ll certainly take it. It’s interesting that Carell and Daniels didn’t immediately think “sci-fi comedy” when the idea of Space Force came up but rather decided to explore how the implementation of a new branch of the military would affect the working Janes and Joes working in public beige offices in the District of Columbia. Plus, the market already has The Orville for sci-fi comedy.

Now a bona fide movie star, Carell is next set to appear in a drama for Apple alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. It seems as though we’re unlikely to see Steve Carell back behind Michael Scott’s desk ever again and that’s OK. There are always new workplace comedies out there that need the deft touch of Carell and Daniels. 

Anywho, the governement is still shut down and life’s a nightmare.

Alec Bojalad is TV Editor at Den of Geek and TCA member. Read more of his stuff here. Follow him at his creatively-named Twitter handle @alecbojalad