Steve Carell and The Office creator Greg Daniels are reuniting for a Netflix series inspired by President Donald Trump’s idea for a space force as the sixth branch of the military.
Netflix has handed out a straight-to-series order for Space Force, co-created by Carell and his former Office showrunner Daniels. Carell will star in the series, which is described as a workplace comedy centered around the people tasked with creating a sixth branch of the armed services — Space Force. Sources note the idea for the project was sparked by Trump’s June order to establish Space Force as the sixth military branch.
Sources say Carell’s salary for Space Force — including co-creator and exec producer fees — sets a new overall record for talent, likely topping the $1 million per episode paydays that the cast members of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory previously netted. With The Office ranking as one of Netflix’s most-watched acquired series — sources note that it often collects more viewers than some of its originals — the streamer stepped up after hearing Carell was ready to return to series-regular television and aggressively pursued the project. The show was not shopped elsewhere.