Reunions and relaunches are big right now for network television show. There’s been moderate success with programs like Roseanne and Will & Grace, and yet people can’t stop speculating if The Office will have a reunion of some kind. The show ran from 2005 to 2013, and even though it’s only been off the air for five years, it’s found a growing following over the years thanks to its availability on Netflix.

Steve Carell is one of the reasons the show was a hit, and while he left in Season 7, he’s been getting asked if an Office reunion is in the cards as he does press for his big fall movies, Beautiful Boy, Vice, and Welcome to Marwen. At the press day for Welcome to Marwen, our own Christina Radish asked Carell about the possibility of a reunion, and he definitively said that he won’t be a part of one if it happens:

With everything coming back these days, do you have any desire to play Michael Scott again, or are there any circumstances you would do any kind of a reunion for The Office? CARELL: I’ll tell you, no. I feel like I’m a broken record, talking about this because I get asked about it. The show is way more popular now than when it was on the air. I just can’t see it being the same thing, and I think most folks would want it to be the same thing, but it wouldn’t be. Ultimately, I think it’s maybe best to leave well enough alone and just let it exist as what it was. You’d literally have to have all of the same writers, the same producers, the same directors, and the same actors, and even with all of those components, it just wouldn’t be the same. So, no. But, I love the show. It was the most exciting time, and all of those people are my friends. We all love it. It was a special thing. It was a special thing before people thought it was a special thing. It was special to us, before other people started feeling that way. But, no. It certainly can live on forever now. CARELL: Whether it does or doesn’t, the fact that other people have found it, over the years, is really cool. It’s really flattering that it’s somehow caught people’s attention, so many years later. But, I don’t think you can recapture that same magic. I really think it comes down to that. If it was magic. I don’t want to overstate it. It was just a TV show. I just wouldn’t want to make the mistake of making a less good version of it. The odds wouldn’t be in its favor, in terms of it recapturing exactly what it was, the first time.

I think Carell is right that the show is kind of lightning in a bottle, and that trying to recapture it would only create a pale imitation. Also, Michael Scott’s story is done. He found love and had a family, which is what he wanted for his entire time on the series. Even the series finale knew there wasn’t much left to add to his story, and wisely just had him be a cameo.

Look for our full interview with Carell in the days ahead. Welcome to Marwen opens December 25th.