Steve Carell Not Returning to The Office

E! Online reports that Steve Carell is definitely bowing out of the Office limelight after the 2010-11 season.

“I just think it’s time,” Carell said. “I want to fulfill my contract. When I first signed on I had a contract for seven seasons, and this coming year is my seventh. I just thought it was time for my character to go.”

Carell hinted that he wouldn’t be coming back when he talked to Radio BBC back in April. But he doesn’t think the show, one of Paste‘s ten best sitcoms, will suffer with his absence. "The show is great, and the ensemble is so strong, and the writers are great, so it’s just one part of that ensemble drifting off," he said. “They’ve incorporated so many new characters and so many new, great storylines that I have no doubt it’ll continue as strong if not stronger than ever.”

Although Carell seems pretty intent on moving on, no announcements about the direction of the show have been made. But what will Dunder-Mifflin be without Michael Scott and his conference room meetings, crazy office parties and clueless blunders? We admit that the magic has been waning since Jim and Pam got married and had their baby; maybe this is just the nail in the coffin of a show that hung on too long.

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.