Dakota Johnson does not have fond memories of her time on the set of The Office.
“That was honestly the worst time of my life,” Johnson, 34, said during her Wednesday, February 7, appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “I love that show so much, and they were like, ‘Do you want to be in the series finale?’ and I was like, ‘Of course,’ thinking that I’d show up for, like, half a day. I was there for two weeks and I’m barely in the f–king show.”
Johnson played a new employee named Dakota in the comedy’s final episode in 2013. She landed a job in the accounting department after it was revealed that Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) was fired for making up numbers to balance the spreadsheets.
While Johnson was ecstatic to briefly join her favorite series at the time, she confessed that the emotions behind the scenes were off.
“They were sad,” she explained of the cast as they were wrapping up the comedy after a decade. “And also, like, there were weird dynamics that had been going on for the last 10 years.”
In addition to having new characters like Johnson, some of the show’s former stars returned to bid farewell including Steve Carrell, Mindy Kaling, and B.J. Novak. While Johnson shared that she tried to fit in with the cast it didn’t work out since no one really paid attention to her. At the time, Johnson was still a rising actress and was known for her small role in The Social Network.
“Some people didn’t speak to each other, and I’m coming in like, ‘Hahaha, I’m so excited to be here,’ and no one wanted to talk to me, nobody gave a f–k,” she quipped before she apologized for her constant swearing. “It’s cause I had a glass of champagne.”
Meyers, 50, joked her cursing wasn’t her fault instead they would blame it on the “f–king Office.”
The actress added that while she filmed her episode, she was actually in the background of a bunch of scenes doing traditional office work like faxing documents.
“Can I tell you I recently watched it and it was some of the most believable faxing I’ve ever seen,” he joked. “And a lot of people I think mail it in when they’re in the background of those shows.”
Johnson teased that if she was going to be stuck on the set doing administrative duties then she was going to “deliver.”
While Johnson didn’t have the most memorable experience on set of The Office, she would go on to land her breakout role as the star in the 50 Shades of Grey film series in 2015 and is currently in Madame Web.
