Ellie Kemper has described her time at The office as “the gift of a lifetime,” and considering the friendships she’s formed with her co-stars, it’s easy to see why.
The 46-year-old actress, who joined the beloved NBC mockumentary in 2009 as cheerful and naïve receptionist Erin Hannon, spoke to PEOPLE recently.
“Isn’t it the gift of a lifetime? I feel like I won the lottery to be cast on the show because it’s so organic and it’s a very natural friendship that we share that feels rare,” Kemper said.
She was already a fan of the show before landing her role in season five, which makes it all feel even more magical.
When asked what she thinks has given the series such enduring appeal, Kemper pointed to something that feels obvious in retrospect but is actually pretty hard to come by, true relatability.
“I think what speaks to the audience, or at least I want to speak for myself, was that you can relate to everyone on that show,” she said.
“There’s a character for everybody in your life. Like you can say, ‘Oh, that’s Uncle Kenny, or whatever.’ You see people in your life in that show, and I think that makes it easy for the audience to relate.”
The authenticity, she said, extended far beyond what viewers saw on screen during the show’s nine seasons from 2005 to 2013.
The cast is, in her words, “really nice people, so it’s like a nice combination.”
The heat has clearly passed.
The cast stays in regular contact through a group text thread and e-mail chain, which Kemper describes as “pretty fun for the most part” and a reliable mood booster every time a message comes through.
One colleague in particular stands out as the thread’s resident comedian. “I will say that Rainn Wilson sends some pretty funny messages on that thread,” she admitted.
For a show that ended over a decade ago, the cast’s connection remains remarkably alive, which, when you think about it, is probably exactly what Dunder Mifflin would have wanted.
