It’s disappointing news for The Office fans hoping to see a Stanley Hudson spinoff, as the proposed sitcom has been delayed yet again.
Leslie David Baker, who played the cantankerous Stanley on the hit NBC comedy series, has refunded fans who donated to a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a half-hour pilot for the project. The campaign launched over three years ago and raised more than $330,000; however, a pilot was never produced.
Taking to Instagram earlier this week, Baker shared a statement saying he will be returning $110,000 of the donations. The actor apologized for the delays before explaining why the project has taken so long to come to fruition, citing COVID lockdowns and the WAG and SAG strikes.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to refund our backers,” Baker continued. “As a token of our appreciation, for your support and patience, the Backer rewards will still be fulfilled along with a full refund. Those of you whose rewards have already been fulfilled will also receive a full refund.”
Baker also explained that while the total funded amount showed as over $330,000, that wasn’t the final amount they received due to backers lowering their pledges or dropping out completely.
“The final amount we received from Kickstarter was exactly: $110,629.81,” the statement continued. “The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account.”
Baker played Stanley in all nine seasons of The Office, starting out in a recurring role in the first season before being promoted to series regular for the other eight seasons.
In the proposed project, titled Uncle Stan, Baker was to reprise his role as Stanley, who is forced out of retirement in Florida after he “gets a call from his nephew Lucky in Los Angeles asking for help with his two kids and running his motorcycle/flower shop.”
“With his business failing, his kids growing up without enough attention, and on the brink of losing his patience with the cast of characters he has working in the shop, Lucky is going to need all the help he can get from no-nonsense Uncle Stan,” the official description read.
The Office, Seasons 1-9, Streaming, Peacock