Bottom line: The Office will be yet another casualty in the streaming wars between media companies as a licensing deal between Netflix and NBCU expires. The latter, behind the much loved comedy series, plans to make it exclusive to its own upcoming streaming platform and apparently won't be renewing the license with Netflix whose subscribers have until January 2021 to watch the show.
The US adaptation of the Ricky Gervais-led British original remains one of the most popular series on Netflix, despite coming to an end with its 9th season back in 2013. The documentary style sitcom never gets old and Netflix realized its potential when it struck a deal with NBC for streaming the show till the end of 2020. That agreement isn't going to be renewed as Netflix took to Twitter and officially announced the sad news for its subscribers.
We're sad that NBC has decided to take The Office back for its own streaming platform --- but members can binge watch the show to their hearts' content ad-free on Netflix until January 2021
--- Netflix US (@netflix) June 25, 2019
The development will see Micheal Scott and the rest of his Dunder Mifflin staff move back to NBCUniversal, which aired the show back in 2005, but this time to the company's own upcoming streaming platform. There's still plenty of time left, though, both for the show's new audience and those looking to re-watch it in its entirety on Netflix.
Whether users like it or not, the streaming wars are only going to heat up in the future when a dozen or so services try to grab their piece of the streaming pie, so you can either accept things as they are or go a full Micheal Scott-style "NOOOO".