‘The Office’ Had to Scrap One of the Best Episodes Where Dwight Brought His Pet That Would’ve Been a Logistical Nightmare to Shoot

While the hilarious and eccentric characters of The Office were enough to keep people engaged through its nine-season run, the American mockumentary sitcom took things to the next level, by bringing in animals as part of the show, from time to time. But sadly, when people almost had a chance to meet Dwight’s wolf, the show scrapped the idea of ‘Pet Day’. 

A still from The Office (U.S.) | image: NBC

Yes, apparently, during the early days of the sitcom, The Office had plans for a “Pet Day” episode as part of season 1. The episode would have featured the employees bringing their various pets into the office. But eventually, due to certain financial challenges, the show had to scrap its plans, and audiences never got to see if Dwight’s pet was named Wolf, or if it was actually a wolf. 

The Office almost had a Pet Day episode featuring Dwight’s wolf 

If you’ve binge-watched every episode of The Office, you’ll be aware of how the American version of the mockumentary sitcom started featuring animals alongside its star cast, during the later half of the show, once they gained success among fans. But then, as we learned about their initial plans from season 1, this whole idea of frequent animal appearances felt like nothing but a bargain. 

Well, according to a panel discussion at Fan Expo Philadelphia 2024 (via ScreenRant), Dwight actor Rainn Wilson revealed how The Office season 1 had initially planned to have a particular episode titled Pet Day, where employees would bring their respective pets to the office. And shockingly, that episode was set to feature Michael Scott’s parrot Jim Carrey, and Dwight’s wolf. 

Rainn Wilson as Dwight in a still from The Office | image: NBC

Yes, you heard it right—Rainn Wilson’s Dwight was supposed to bring in a wolf during the Pet Day episode. Well, although the character never left an opportunity to talk about him living on a farm and harboring the ability to control animals, the thought of Dwight bringing a wolf as a pet seemed quite hilarious. But again, it’s Dwight after all.

That man is known for assaulting Jim with snowballs and outrageously calling Kevin, Kelly, and Kathy three weak links after Andy handed him the team of people he was supposed to take care of in Season 8 Episode 14 titled Special Project. Well, thinking of that, Dwight did refer to owning an Arctic wolf once. Was it this wolf he was hoping to bring in the Season 1 Pet Day episode?

The sitcom scrapped the plans due to significant challenges

Moving on, due to season 1’s limited episodes and short time span, the idea for the Pet Day episode was unfortunately scrapped, in the end. Well, it seems that while the potential episode featuring Dwight’s wolf would have been hilarious and quite chaotic, it was the show’s logistical challenges that ultimately led them to drop the idea altogether.

Now, considering how the season 5 episode Stress Relief featured Angela Kinsey’s character with her cat called Bandit, The Office had to face an alleged $12,000 nightmare to make the episode come true. Well, it all happened because the episode featured a stunt with the cat being thrown up and down a ceiling, which became difficult to do using real-life trained cats. 

Angela Martin with her cat named Bandit in The Office | image: NBC

Therefore, as the showrunners had to use a puppet that felt gelatinous with yellow eyes, Andy Greene revealed in his book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s (via SlashFilm), that the puppet reportedly cost them $12,000. Now, going by this record, we can only imagine the financial nightmare that the show might have faced to feature multiple animals in one episode. 

But again, even though for audiences the Season 1 Pet Day episode never came to fruition, we can all just end it on a merry note, thinking about how The Office characters did indeed enjoy bringing their pets to office. Recalling how Angela threatened to reinstate pet day after Dwight accidentally fired a gun in the office (S7E24 titled Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager), it indeed implied how the employees had a pet day policy at Dunder Mifflin. 

The Office is currently available to watch on Peacock.