By now, just about everyone has heard that Steve Carell, who plays the character Michael Scott on NBC‘s The Office, will be leaving at the end of the current season. But, during a recent interview with Pittsburgh’s Post Gazette, Greg Daniels, the executive producer of the show, is saying that it will happen a couple of episodes before the season finale. So, this means that sometime in late April, Michael Scott will leave the show.

Daniels said that giving Michael the boot before the end of the season would give viewers a chance to feel things out without Steve Carell. It also might have something to do with the fact that he will probably get a huge ratings boost for not one, but two episodes. Additionally, he said that the potential candidates would be Daryl, Dwight, Andy and potentially a few more. The person who chooses the successor to Michael Scott will be Kathy Bates.

He also mentioned that Amy Ryan, who was Michael Scott’s love interest in Season 5, will be returning a couple of episodes before that.

These rumors, that actually seem pretty solid coming from Daniels’ mouth, lead me to believe that Michael might leave the show to be with Holly and depart the show on a high note. It would be hard at this point to imagine him leaving the show for some other reason, but I could be surprised. I hope they pull this off well, since the last couple of seasons have been kind of a drag, with the exception of a few episodes here and there. I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

The next episode airs Thursday, January 20 on NBC.