‘The Office’ Writers Had 1 Rule About Jim and Dwight and They Broke It
One thing that The Office writers really excelled at was creating a bevy of colorful characters with varying points of view. This helped create the most interesting character dynamics on the hit show. One of the best examples of this is, of course, the relationship between paper salesmen Dwight K. Schrute and Jim Halpert.
Fans of The Office will recall that throughout the nine seasons of the show, Jim and Dwight’s relationship went through a multitude of different iterations. Though the pair certainly start off as more or less enemies. Jim is constantly pranking his coworker to deal with his boredom and the fact that Dwight can be intolerable at times. Those familiar with the show will recall some of Jim’s more infamous prank like putting his supplies in Jell-O or when he put Dwight’s wallet and other personal belongings in the vending machine.
‘The Office’ fans watched Jim and Dwight go from enemies to friends
But over the years, the characters transformed from enemies to frenemies. Though they had their differences, they also developed a sense of camaraderie at times also. The pair even united at some points, once joining forces to get Todd Packer to leave the office for good. At the end of the series, they were bonafide friends, with Jim planning Dwight’s bachelor party and serving as his best man.
Though The Office fans seem to appreciate the trajectory of Jim and Dwight’s friendship, them becoming friends was actually never supposed to happen. In fact, Greg Daniels, who created the American version of The Office, was staunchly against having the pair turn into good friends. According to Mindy Kaling, who starred in and wrote for the show, the writers worked against the concept of Dwight and Jim becoming buds for a number of seasons.
Mindy Kaling revealed that Greg Daniels was against the idea of the characters becoming best friends
“Dwight is a complicated character, and he and Jim are not friends,” Kaling revealed about the dynamic between Jim and Dwight in a 2010 interview with Office Tally. “Greg told us the first season that he never wanted it to be some situation where Dwight evolved into ‘the best man at Jim’s wedding’ or something, which I think is really smart. I think a lot of sitcoms make enemies into best friends through some crappy sitcom feel-good formula.”
Continuing on, Kaling shared that there’s more of a friendship between Dwight and Pam than there is between Dwight and Jim. “It was actually the exception that Dwight showed that compassion to Pam, which is why the moment in ‘China’ was so sweet, I thought,” she shared. “I also like to believe that Dwight has a soft spot for Pam, which he does not have for pretty much anyone else in the office.”
‘The Office’ writers broke their own rules
While it’s true that Dwight and Pam have a closer relationship than Jim and Dwight (Dwight even calls Pam his best friend in the series finale of The Office) that doesn’t discount that Jim and Dwight got close over the years. And while Dwight didn’t serve as Jim’s best man, Jim serving as Dwight’s “bestest mensch” certainly makes it seem as if The Office writers broke their own rule about the characters, or at least changed their minds throughout the series.
