Creed Bratton's Post-'Office' Career Is SO Creed Bratton

Ever since it was announced that The Office might be getting a reboot, fans have been speculating about which Dunder Mifflin employees might be returning to our screens. And perhaps the most singular, and most memorable of the cast of characters who could possibly return to Scranton is Creed Bratton. Played by the actor of the same name, Creed was always lurking in the background, with an undefined job and a tendency to go number two in the ladies' room. Scranton's favorite paper company wouldn't be the same without him. But where is Creed Bratton from The Office now, and will he return for the reboot?

Bratton, who was formerly the guitarist for 1960's band The Grass Roots, has been busy since the end of The Office (consulting producer, 98 episodes: Jennifer Celotta). According to his IMDb page, he's had small roles on the shows Franklin & Bash, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and Grace and Frankie. He's also had roles in quite a few movies, moving his particular comedic talents from the small screen to the big screen. He played Dobbins in the 2016 action comedy Band of Robbers, which was a new take on the story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Bratton made an appearance as CRC in the 2015 comedy The Sound of Magic, and starred as the titular Carl in the short film "Crazy Carl" in 2017. Maybe the fictional Creed would be disappointed that none of these career choices included scuba diving, but the real-life Creed Bratton has flourished since The Office.

Bratton also has quite a few upcoming projects on the docket. He starred as Isher Bunbruntley in the movie Maybe There's a Tree, which doesn't yet have a release date, and as a "Saloon Guy" in the film The Sisters Brothers, a western which features some big names, like Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Riz Ahmed. But perhaps most exciting is his role of "Cowboy Guy" in the short film "Blacked Out", which was written by Office co-star Angela Kinsey, who also stars in the film. Though Creed and Angela were pretty much polar opposites while working at Dunder Mifflin, the actors that portray them are pretty close in real life. In fact, when the news broke that NBC was considering an Office reboot, Kinsey tweeted that Bratton couldn't stop calling her about it:

This seems to be pretty solid evidence that if this reboot actually happens, both Kinsey and Bratton would want to be on board. Not only did Kinsey tweet about the possibility, but Bratton seems to still be pretty attached to the show that turned him from a 60's musician to a household name in comedy. Last year, at one of his concerts, Bratton performed his version of the Office theme song, complete with lyrics written about the whole cast. Clearly, even though the Creed on the show seemed to never know exactly what he was doing there, Bratton still feels right at home in Scranton.

It makes sense once you consider that Bratton was such a big fan of the original material of the show that he took it upon himself to make sure he was cast. In an interview with The New York Times, Bratton shares how he basically wrote himself a part on the show, which was so funny that it convinced show runner Greg Daniels that Creed should join the Dunder Mifflin family:

"I was working on The Bernie Mac Show, doing little bits here and there. One time I played the piano player in a lounge, I also played Carl Reiner’s nephew, Miles, doing a funny little bit with a French horn. Musical stuff. Ken Kwapis was directing an episode, he was a big Grass Roots fan, he and I hit it off. I heard he was doing The Office and I lobbied to get on. He said, 'We cast it, but I’m going to put you in the background and try to put you in.' Two weeks into shooting the first season, I shot my own DVD with a friend’s help, a monologue based on my crazy rock and roll past, ad-libbed a bunch of stuff, cut it to about five minutes, gave it to Greg Daniels. The second season, boom, I was in there."

It's safe to say that if The Office ever returns to NBC, Creed Bratton will probably be there. That is, if he's not in prison. The character, that is.