Oscar Nuñez has opened up about stepping back into the shoes of The Office’s Oscar Martinez for NBC/Peacock’s upcoming spin-off The Paper.
The actor, who played Martinez across all nine seasons of the U.S. version of Ricky Gervais’ hit sitcom, admitted he felt “a little nervous” about returning to the role more than a decade later.
“I was nervous when we first started, about how it would all roll out,” Nuñez told Variety. “But once we began filming, that fear went away. They’re all so good. All you really have to do is show up, do your thing, and keep up with them — and trust that you’re there for a reason, too.”
The Paper follows the same mockumentary-style camera crew as The Office, this time chronicling the lives of employees at the struggling Toledo Truth Teller, a local newspaper in Ohio. The ensemble cast includes Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, and Tim Key.
A trailer for the series shows Martinez exasperated at seeing the camera crew reappear in his life. Speaking about his character, Nuñez described Oscar as “a pseudo-intellectual. He wants to do his job and find a boyfriend and go to some plays. He wants to enjoy his life without being in a documentary.”
Martinez’s role in TV history
Nuñez revealed that Oscar wasn’t originally written as gay. “Greg [Daniels] came up to me in season two and said, ‘Do you mind if we make your character gay?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t care.’ And Greg goes, ‘Oh, good, because we already wrote the scripts.’”
Since then, Martinez has become an important figure for many LGBTQ+ fans. “I often forget my character is gay,” Nuñez admitted. “I’ll go to a convention and young people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. Your character helped me come out of the closet.’ It’s very cool. That’s the best part about it.”
