As one of the best sitcoms of all time, The Office was known for its off-color humor and weird moments. But there were some weird mysteries of the NBC comedy that were never resolved. The Office's Angela Kinsey may have given fans the resolution to one long-running question. Kinsey and Office co-star Jenna Fischer finally cleared up a longstanding Office mystery regarding the father of Jan's baby.
Most viewers already know Jan’s daughter Astrid was conceived via a sperm donor, but the NBC sitcom never revealed the father’s identity over its nine-season run. During a recent episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer revealed a deleted scene from the Season 4 episode “Goodbye, Toby” containing the long-held secret. Kinsey read the script for the scene:
Jan says, ‘You have to pay top dollar, but it's worth it. Now, here's the best part. I got Andy Roddick's sperm.’ And Jan looks to Michael like she's expecting him to be very impressed. And Michael says, ‘The tennis player?’ And Jan says, ‘Well, it's a little more than that. He's the sixth-ranked player in the world and he's won four grand slams.’ And Michael says, ‘That's a lot of grand slams, I guess.’ And Jan says, ‘And he's a humanitarian, something with orphans.’ And Michael is quiet, and Jan goes, ‘Michael?’ And Michael says, ‘Can I just sit here for a minute without more things coming into my head?’
Finally! After all this time, one of The Office’s weirdest mysteries has been solved. Having the scene of Jan revealing that moment to Michael would’ve been television gold, just like many others. Sadly, viewers never got to see the scene play out. But the reveal would’ve been right on-brand for the NBC sitcom.
During the podcast, Jenna Fischer gave some more insight into the Andy Roddick revelation. Her moment involved a connection with fellow Office co-star Rainn Wilson. Fischer said about the former tennis superstar:
OK, you guys, Andy Roddick was friends with Rainn Wilson, and he was a big fan of The Office and he came by the set. I have to imagine that the reason they wrote it as being Andy Roddick's sperm was a little bit of a nod to Andy, who has an amazing sense of humor. Me and Lee got to know Andy and Brooklyn through our love of tennis. We would go watch Andy play tennis and sit with Brooklyn and oh my gosh, I am so sad for his sake that this did not stay in the episode.
To solidify the Andy Roddick connection, Angela Kinsey revealed her friendship with Roddick’s wife. She admitted to being tempted to text his wife the full scene for the couple’s amusement. Knowing the former tennis player would’ve loved The Office shout-out makes the omission even more bittersweet, and looking back at the episode, that moment would’ve blown viewers’ minds. If you want to see this episode, you can catch the acclaimed sitcom on Peacock and Prime Video.
