Why Dakota Johnson Hated Guest Starring In The Office

You would think that getting the chance to guest star on a majorly popular show is an amazing experience. Something you may not know about Dakota Johnson, however, is that her time on the series finale of "The Office" wasn't so great. In an interview on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Meyers pointed out that he and Johnson were both featured in the series finale of "The Office" — Meyers playing himself in a fictionalized "Weekend Update" segment and Johnson playing the new Dunder Mifflin Scranton accountant (also named Dakota). 

"God, that was honestly the worst time of my life," Johnson said. The audience laughed and Johnson explained that she was a big fan of the sitcom and was totally game to act in the finale. The shoot ended up being longer than Johnson expected, and she added, "And I was there for two weeks and I'm barely in the f***ing show."

Johnson also lamented about some awkwardness on set, due to it being the final episode and all: "They were sad, and they also, there were weird dynamics that had been going on for the last 10 years. Some people didn't speak to each other, and I'm coming in like, 'I'm so excited to be here!' And no one wanted to talk to me. Nobody gave a f***."

In a 2022 Vanity Fair interview where Dakota Johnson dove into her previous roles, she also brought up her experience on "The Office." The "Fifty Shades of Grey” actor compared it to attending a party you were not actually wanted at. Sounding haunted, she added, "Like they did it just to be like, 'Yeah sure, come,' you know, and then I was stuck there."

In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson gave additional insight on how her episode of "The Office" was meant to perhaps open the door for a spinoff show — and her accountant character would have been a part of it. "If everything else just falls away, maybe you'll find me in that 'Office' spinoff that no one wants to watch," Johnson told the outlet with a laugh. However, she was honest that such a project probably wouldn't have been a good fit for her. Johnson pointed out how people will try to stretch "successful" stories further than needed and added, "Sometimes things need to end when they're supposed to end." 

Although the spinoff was likely going to focus on new characters, what the cast of "The Office" is up to today might have been different if the spinoff had happened. 

Dakota Johnson's unfiltered opinions on her time on "The Office" are nothing new. She's known for being fully candid in interviews — even if that means calling somebody out. Of all of Ellen DeGeneres' blunders, lying to Johnson stands above the rest. In a clip from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2019, DeGeneres states that she wasn't invited to Johnson's 30th birthday party. "Actually no," Johnson said. "That's not the truth Ellen. You were invited." 

She said while on DeGeneres' show in 2018: "You gave me a bunch of s*** about not inviting you. But I didn't even know you wanted to be invited. ... Well, I didn't even know you liked me." DeGeneres swore she did, and Johnson confirmed the talk show host received an invite to the party, telling DeGeneres to ask her producer. In the hot seat, DeGeneres asked why she didn't attend, and her crew said it was because she wasn't in town. 

Any hostility seemed like a joke, and Johnson and DeGeneres laughed about the situation — and laughed even more when Johnson confirmed that her favorite comedian wasn't DeGeneres but Tig Notaro. However, Johnson quipped, "It will haunt me," about that conversation with DeGeneres while speaking to L'Officiel in 2024. Even if Johnson wants to forget it, "That's not the truth Ellen" became a meme on X, formerly known as Twitter. People use it anytime they want to disprove something.