Whether 'The Office' peaked with Steve Carell, or the last two years have successfully served in his stead, there can be no stopping the official end to the series arriving this May. NBC has long confirmed the show's inevitable end for 2013, with no chance of a Dwight Schrute spin-off to follow, but now the final season has truly gotten real. NBC has set an official end date to the series at Thursday, May 16 with an hour-long episode, but how special will 'The Office' series finale truly be?

We have long known that 'The Office' would come to an ultimate end this year, but NBC has officially marked their calendars to close the door on Dunder-Mifflin. The peacock today announced the long-running comedy's official end date, airing its hour-long series finale on May 16, the show's 200th episode.

Of course, the true question remains of whether or not Steve Carell will return to have any kind of presence in the show's finale, despite repeated insistence from the actor and NBC that the character had effectively wrapped his arc two seasons prior. At Sundance for his film ‘The Way, Way Back,’ Carell spoke to Access Hollywood saying:

I just didn’t think it was right for the character, because that character had had an arc within the story and kind of grew and sort of evolved past the idea of the documentary.

I’m really good friends with everybody on the cast and with [executive producer] Greg Daniels and I want to go back [to the set] to say, ‘Hi,’ certainly, before it all ends, but I just thought, in terms of the character, it didn’t make sense.

Time will tell, but for now 'The Office' has attracted plenty of buzz with its fourth wall-obliterating inclusion of the documentary camera crew, a thread to be further explored in upcoming episodes this season.

What say you? Are you glad to see 'The Office' come to an ultimate end on May 16, regardless of what former cast members appear? Tell us what you hope to see from the series finale in the comments!

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