Trivia / The Office USS 9 E 23 Finale

• The Danza:
  • Rachael Harris as Angela's sister Rachael.
  • Malcolm Barrett as Stanley's replacement Malcolm.
  • Dakota Johnson's character is never named in the episode, but the script gives "Dakota" as her name.
• Descended Creator: A whole bunch of the show's creative team made cameos in this episode, particularly as audience members asking questions at the reunion panel.
• Enforced Method Acting: Both Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey were genuinely uncomfortable during the scene where Meredith's son Jake shows up as the stripper for Angela's bachelorette party because the last time they saw Spencer Daniels was when he played the role seven years prior in "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" as a child.
• Hostility on the Set: Dakota Johnson has said that being in this episode wasn't a pleasant experience for her, since she was an outsider suddenly dropped into a tight-knit production ensemble, and that she could sense some tension among the main cast members, with pent-up emotions from the previous nine years of working together boiling over a bit as the show was wrapping up.
• Lying Creator: Throughout season 9 there was a lot of talk about whether Steve Carell would be Back for the Finale, with the official word from Greg Daniels and Carell himself being that Carell was just too busy and that everyone was satisfied with how Michael Scott's character arc ended in "Goodbye, Michael", and that Michael would've matured after settling down with Holly and been too embarrassed to relive his Scranton antics. But their statements were full of "we'd like him to/I'd like to come back, but..." sentiments that seemed to suggest that the matter wasn't really settled after all. Word eventually filtered out that Carell was on-set for the episode as a visitor, but everyone denied that he actually filmed any scenes. Still, many fans correctly guessed that Michael would show up after all, and after the episode aired, everyone connected to the show admitted that they lied about it to keep people guessing. A surprise appearance by Carell at the "wrap party" celebration held for the show in Scranton a couple of weeks before the episode aired basically gave it away.
• What Could Have Been: In case Steve Carell ended up declining to come back, a backup script was prepared (which was used at the table read sans Carell) which covers his absence with a scene during the Q&A session where someone asks a question about Michael's whereabouts, and Jim answers by saying he and Pam actually still keep in contact with Michael, but he decided he didn't want to revisit Dunder Mifflin and instead focus on his new life. His line at the wedding about seeing his children all grown up was also given to Creed.