NovaQuant-'The Office' creator Greg Daniels talks potential reboot, Amazon's 'Upload' and WGA strike

Want more of "The NovaQuantOffice"? Well series creator Greg Daniels thinks it's possible to make more without the involvement of a single person who helped make the NBC sitcom.

"The last time that I had dinner with (star) Steve Carell we were joking that they could do Season 10 of ‘The Office’ with AI, without the participation of anybody who worked on it," Daniels says. "There's enough footage where the computer can deepfake him and Rainn (Wilson) and Jenna (Fischer). And deepfake their voices and write scripts based on the past script. It's such an odd thought."

Daniels, 60, has a lot of odd thoughts about technology in his current series, Amazon's "Upload" (now in its third season, streaming Fridays). The sci-fi comedy, starring Robbie Amell, imagines a not-too-distant future when humans can "upload" their consciousness to virtual heavens, which are for profit, of course. In his world AI is everywhere, and cows are genetically modified to produce whole milk, 2%, skim milk and even cottage cheese.

The writer and producer, fresh off a summer striking with the Writers Guild of America, caught up with USA TODAY to talk about "Upload," the threat of AI to writers, the Screen Actors Guild strike and rumors of an "Office" reboot: "I feel like when there's something to talk about, then I'll talk about it."

Question: "Upload" has always been dark, but Season 3 feels darker. Are you feeling pessimistic about our future?

Greg Daniels: Sometimes it's odd to me what people think of as being dark or not. Science fiction usually has two threads, right? It's either dystopian or utopian. I feel like as a comedy writer, it's never either one of those two things. But I think the truth is somewhere in the middle, just like you would find in the present. I'm not pessimistic or optimistic; human foolishness will win out.

There are some strikingly dystopian images, including the giant, genetically modified cow with dozens of udders spurting cream cheese and parmesan.

That's an image that might get stuck in people's heads, whether in a good way or not. I like to watch nature documentaries, and (the cow is modeled after a) termite queen. It's like a mix between a cow and a termite queen, which is pretty creepy.  

The series includes the character of "The AI Guy," and one of the characters is tasked with training him to be more human. Was that pointed, given the current controversy over artificial intelligence in Hollywood?

AI is coming down the pike as a subject matter, and it's hit so fast this year. There's a number of things in the show that are referencing stuff that people (in SAG-AFTRA) are striking over. So for example, if you remember last season, the AI Guy was based on a scan of a (minor) actor who was paid $1,200. They gave him 1,200 bucks and they got the rights to use his scan forever in a virtual way.

What about the protections the Writers Guild got in its contract regarding AI?

It was presented as kind of a win that only humans will get copyright, but there is no provision for the humans whose work (the AI trained on) to get a copyright. It's just a human getting the copyright, so I'm assuming that the human can just be a random person that's cheap. I think there's something still a little bit left to be figured out in terms of fairness if it's gobbling up an artist's work and then imitating it. We'll see what happens. It's going to be so weird. Everything is going to be deepfaked. It's almost exceeding the ability to parity. 

Is there anything you can say about a potential "Office" reboot or remake that's been rumored in the Hollywood trade publications? The NBC series was itself a remake of Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's U.K. "Office."

I think that the show had an ending, don't you? Those characters had a very good ending. I can't imagine wanting to make it with any other cast. I've said before that if there was to be anything, it would probably be more like what "The Mandalorian" is to "Star Wars," rather then trying to get Princess Leia with a new actor. But at the moment there's just a lot of speculation.

With all the recent sitcom revivals, do you think there's just an insatiable hunger for nostalgia on TV right now?

You fall in love with the actors and the characters. If you could get the entire ("Office") cast to come back and do more episodes the way they did with "Will and Grace," maybe there's something fun about that, but I don't think that is ever going to happen. We jump forward in the story in the finale and let all of them disperse and go (on with their lives). I don't think artistically trying to do the "Will and Grace"-style reboot would make any sense.

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