Los Angeles - Emmy-winning actor James Spader has joined the regular cast of The Office as Robert California, the new CEO of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder Mifflin, NBC said on Wednesday.
The three-time winner of the top US television honor guest-starred on this season's finale of the series as a scarily capable applicant for Michael Scott's job. He not only gets it, but quickly rises above it.
“James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,'' said series regular Paul Lieberstein, one of the series' executive producers.
“He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and The Office has no tools for dealing with this guy,'' Lieberstein added. ``We're thrilled he's joining our cast.''
Spader won three Emmy awards for playing Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal, making him the only actor to win consecutive Emmys playing the same character on two different series. - Reuters