Why Rashida Jones Left The Office

"The Office" featured a ton of guest appearances along with its core set of recurring characters. Some of these started as guests and moved into full-time roles, like Ed Helm's Andy Bernard. Others made a brief appearance and were out, like Will Ferrell's Deangelo Vickers. And then there were those who rode the line for a while, like Rashida Jones' Karen Filippelli.

Karen arrives in season 3 as Jim Halpert's new love interest. She follows him to Scranton when the Stamford branch closes, and spends the rest of the season becoming a regular fixture of the show. The sweet, sincere nature of Karen's character helps her get along with the group, both in Stamford and Scranton. As far as audiences are concerned, she could have been hated as a third part of the Jim/Pam love triangle, but she wasn't. Whether she needed a fix from her favorite chip brand or was overly invested in a round of Call of Duty, her authenticity helped her become a fan favorite for many.

Even so, from the moment she showed up, it was inevitable that she was going to be pushed aside for Pam at some point, and Rashida Jones felt that tension behind the scenes. In a segment from The Off Camera Show, she explained, 

"I always felt like a guest star on 'The Office.' Everybody was so nice to me, but I always felt like a guest star. I never felt comfortable. I knew because I was like the small point of a love triangle that I would eventually just have to be sacrificed."

That didn't mean she had to leave the show entirely. And yet, when push came to shove, that's exactly what happened. The question for many fans was, why? Was it Jones who felt the need to make an exit? Or was she axed by others behind the scenes?

There are many moving parts in television back-room politicking, and it's never easy to know the specifics of who influenced which decisions. However, at times, actors can help shed some light on why a particular development takes place, and as with so many "Office" details, the detailed story of Karen's Scranton demise came out on the "Office Ladies" podcast. In the episode "The Job, Part 2," Angela actor Angela Kinsey explained the motivation for the move:

"It seems like they wanted to give themselves some choices. But we also know what was going on at this time, which is that Rashida booked her role on 'Parks and Rec' and she was going to be starting that job. So, A, they needed, you know, finally Jim and Pam to be together, without any kind of distraction. And also, Rashida just got a great new job."

Her exit from the season 3 finale of "The Office" was in May of 2007. "Parks and Recreation" premiered less than two years later, in April of 2009, with Jones playing a major role right out of the gate. The craziest part of the transition is that it wasn't the only option: There was a very real chance that Karen Filippelli could have not just stayed on "The Office," but become Michael and Jim's boss.

Rashida Jones' recurring role on "The Office" started and ended with season 3. But that wasn't all she wrote — not by a long shot. For starters, there was a very real chance that Jones was going to maintain a key role on the show. Not one as prominent as Ed Helm's Andy, but still an important one.

According to the ladies of the "Office Ladies" podcast, there was serious consideration to keep Jones on at Dunder Mifflin's corporate offices. Rumor has it (via Jenna Fischer) that they even filmed an alternate ending where Karen gets the job. She's crying in New York. Then the phone rings and, hey presto! She gets the job. For those of you keeping track at home, yes, this would have made her both Michael's and Jim's boss and given her a recurring role on the series. But even as they filmed the alternate ending, the creators knew the writing was on the wall. Jones was headed for a new show — one where she would play a more prominent role.

Fortunately, that didn't mean she was gone for good. The departure was clearly an amicable one, and Jones was able to return more than once in the following seasons. In the season 4 episode "Branch Wars," we catch up with her in the Utica branch, where she is now regional manager and Michael's peer. (Clearly, she nailed the season 3 interview). We also bump into her again in the season 5 episode "Lecture Circuit: Part 1," where we discover that she's found love again and is pregnant (not with Jim's child). Her final appearance is in the season 7 episode "Threat Level Midnight" (which barely squeaked into the top 15 on /Film's ranking of the best "The Office" episodes), where she pops up alongside a host of other erstwhile characters in Michael's movie project. The fact that Jones was able to return to the show multiple times while also finding a new home and a consistent gig on "Parks and Rec" makes her ending on "The Office" one of the better tales, especially compared to some heart-breakers like Carell's unexpected exit in season 7.