TOLDJA! James Spader Joins 'The Office', But Not To Replace Steve Carell

We told you a week or so ago that James Spader was returning to NBC’s The Office in a boss role after his memorable guest stint at Robert California last season, but outlets like The Hollywood Reporter got it wrong when they reported he was arriving to replace Steve Carell. He will actually be the CEO of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder Mifflin. From the release:

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (July 6, 2011) Multiple Emmy Award winner James Spader (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice”) will be joining the regular cast of NBC’s “The Office” (Thursdays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET) as CEO Robert California of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder Mifflin.

“James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,” said Paul Lieberstein, one of the series’ executive producers and a series regular. “He’ll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and ‘The Office’ has no tools for dealing with this guy. We’re thrilled he’s joining our cast.”

From 2004-08, Spader won three Emmy awards for his seminal role as shameless attorney Alan Shore in “The Practice” and “Boston Legal,” making him the only actor to win consecutive Emmys playing the same character on two different series. He is represented at ICM and Melanie Cook.

“The Office” is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American audiences, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein and Paul Lieberstein.