I Don't Know Why The Office Changed One Of Its Main Characters So Drastically, But I'm Glad It Happened
Over the course of The Office’s nine seasons, Ryan Howard underwent two drastic transformations, and each version of the character was hilarious for different reasons. For the most part, The Office kept its characterization consistent throughout its entire run, but there were a few changes. The Office made Michael Scott more sympathetic in season 2 and Kevin Malone got more and more cartoonishly unintelligent over the years, but The Office mostly stuck to the established personalities of its sprawling ensemble cast.
Dwight remained a nerdy farmer until the end of the series, Jim remained the audience surrogate mugging for the camera until the very end, and Stanley remained a crossword-loving grump who spent every day waiting for the clock to strike five. But there was one major exception: Ryan, whose personality changed as much as his job. Ryan seemed to keep evolving from season to season. He started out as an outsider perspective to the office’s zaniness, but he ended up becoming a corporate fraudster and a pretentious hipster.
Ryan Drastically Changed Twice Throughout The Office
Ryan Went From Everyman To Corporate Executive To Insufferable Hipster
In the first season of The Office, Ryan was introduced as a new temp who was hired to work at the Scranton branch. Much like Ricky in the original British series, Ryan offered an outsider’s perspective of the office’s antics. He was a normal guy surrounded by abnormal people. His deadpan reactions to Dwight and Angela’s flirtations or Bob Vance announcing his company name three times in a row were hilarious. But at the end of season 3, Ryan was promoted to a corporate position and completely changed.
B.J. Novak worked on The Office's writing staff while playing Ryan.
In season 4, Ryan became a corporate bigshot who spoke in Wall Street lingo, spent hundreds of dollars on haircuts and cognac, and reprimanded Jim out of spite. He was demoted back to a temp when he was caught committing fraud, but rather than reverting back to his old everyman persona, he became an insufferable hipster. He put on non-prescription glasses, he wore bowties and suspenders, and he pretended to be a diehard fan of Smokey Robinson for the cred.
Every Version Of Ryan In The Office Was Funny For Different Reasons
All 3 Incarnations Of Ryan Had Their Own Comedic Merits
All three incarnations of Ryan were funny for their own reasons. The original version of Ryan was a great foil for the rest of the office, contrasting the wackiness with some real-world normalcy. The corporate Ryan was a spot-on lampoon of corporate culture. Ryan’s final form hilariously satirized the performative nature of hipster culture. The Office never settled on one characterization for Ryan, but he never stopped being funny.
The Office
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Greg Daniels
- Directors
- Greg Daniels, Paul Lieberstein, Paul Feig, Randall Einhorn, Ken Kwapis
- Writers
- Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein, Michael Schur, Ricky Gervais, Greg Daniels, B.J. Novak
Cast
Michael Scott
Dwight Schrute
- Franchise(s)
- The Office
- Creator(s)
- Greg Daniels
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