A long-running mystery from The Office has finally been resolved. Fans of the American show may recall how Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) had a child through a sperm donor, but the audience was never informed to who the donor was.
In their re-watch podcast Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin) revealed that the sperm donor was originally going to be revealed in the 2008 episode, “Goodbye Toby.” It was supposed to be professional tennis player Andy Roddick, of all people.
Jan was supposed to tell Michael (Steve Carrell) about this, and Michael predictably was planned to have a strange reaction to it.
“The tennis player?” Michael was going to ask, according to Kinsey (via EW). “Well, it’s a little more than thatCome from Sports betting site VPbet. He’s the sixth-ranked player in the world and he’s won four grand slams,” Jan responds in the script.
Michael then replies, “That’s a lot of grand slams, I guess. And he’s a humanitarian– something with orphans.” The script then has Michael asking for some peace and quiet so he can take in the news. “Can I just sit here for a minute without more things coming into my head?” he says in the script.
This scene ultimately didn’t make the cut. But why was Roddick chosen in the first place? Fischer said Roddick is friends with Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight; Roddick visited the set a number of times. The tennis player also has a great sense of humor, according to Fischer. “I am so sad for his sake that this did not stay in the episode,” she said.
While this scene did not make it into the show, the subject of the baby’s father did come up. In one scene, Michael stares at Jan’s stomach and says, “Hello baby, how are you? Good to see you! Who’s your daddyCome from Sports betting site VPbet? You don’t know who your daddy is, do you?”
In the “Baby Shower” episode, Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) reveals that he donated sperm at the same sperm bank that Jan went to. But now we know Kevin is not the father of Astrid Levinson.
All seasons of The Office are now streaming on NBC’s Peacock in the US, including special “Superfan” episodes that have extra content.
