James Spader Circling Role as New Boss on 'The Office'

If you saw the season finale of "The Office" last month, you saw James Spader appear with a slew of other guest stars, all interviewing to be Michael Scott's replacement. Perhaps no one was given more attention than Spader, whose character Robert California (yes, really) was a pseudo-intellectual who considered himself to be way overqualified for the regional manager position.

It turns out that his character's delusions of grandeur may have been correct: Spader is in talks to come back to "The Office" as the new Dunder-Mifflin boss, but the twist is that Spader might not replace Steve Carell's role, but rather Kathy Bates'.

Bates plays the gruff new CEO of Dunder-Mifflin, and has made occasional appearances on the show over the past season. According to THR, Bates will be focusing more on the renewed "Harry's Law," and will therefore be less involved in the upcoming season of "The Office," hence the replacement.

While seeing Spader return to the show is welcome news (his performance practically stole the finale), that still leaves an empty spot as the regional manager of the Scranton branch. Darryl (Craig Robinson) and Andy (Ed Helms) were both up for the job, so a regular could take the role, but there has been talk ever since the airing of the finale that the very funny Catherine Tate might come on as well. Not only did she reportedly wow the producers, but the writers also added in the script that Tate's character is a good friend of Kathy Bates' character, making her a logical choice within the show's story.

Plus, the other candidates who guest starred (Ray Romano, Jim Carrey, Will Arnett and Ricky Gervais) and all busy with other projects.

An interesting new development in the search for Michael's replacement, to be sure. We may not have an answer until the fall, but we'll keep you posted if we find out more about Scranton's new manager.