This iconic scene from The Office was actually improvised

With a show as funny as The Office which stars some of the best comedians out there, it’s not surprising to know that a handful of lines were actually improvised. Steve Carell, who played the one and only Michael Scott, added his own ideas to some of the most popular scenes, and he wasn’t the only one. According to BuzzFeed, Melora Hardin (Jan Levinson), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), and Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) were also among the cast members to improvise along the way.

And now, we know yet another memorable scene from The Office that was improvised, according to stars Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin). As reported by Screen Rant, the two discussed the scene in question from season 6 during a recent episode of their podcast Office Ladies.

Fans all remember the episode “Murder,” where the Dunder Mifflin crew plays a murder mystery game called Belles, Bourbon & Bullets hosted by Michael, who’s trying to distract them from the fact that the company might be shutting down. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) doesn’t understand at first, but funnily enough, everyone eventually gets really into the game.

The Office murder mystery scene that was improvised

At the end of the episode, almost everyone has gone home but Pam, Michael, Dwight, and Andy, who are still playing the game intensely. Jim walks in to try and get Pam to go home, and he finds them in a standoff, posing with their fingers as guns. Pam slowly walks away, and it’s just down to three in the standoff. The episode ends with Michael, Dwight, and Andy pretending to shoot and kill each other.

According to Fischer, the scene was originally supposed to end with Pam backing out of the standoff, but Carell, Wilson, and Helms took things a step further and improvised their final moment. Kinsey remembered that as well, recalling:

"“[Showrunner Greg Daniels] shared that when the guys fell on the ground and were like convulsing and everything, that was just them. They were just having fun. He said it was like little kids getting to play.”"

“Murder” is definitely one of the funniest episodes of The Office, as it features Michael Scott at his best. Some of the other characters have great moments as well, including Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) who does a hilariously bad Southern accent.

It’s always so much fun finding out which scenes and lines might not have been in the original script of The Office. You can stream all episodes of the beloved series right now on Peacock.