The Paper: Cast, Air Dates, Season Summaries, and the Complete Episode Guide

Peacock renewed this Office spinoff for Season 2 a full day before anyone had watched Season 1 — here's the cast, exactly when every episode aired, and what happened across both runs.

One day. That's the gap between "The Paper" premiering and Peacock ordering a second season — a renewal that landed before a single outside viewer had seen the pilot. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, the mockumentary sends the same in-universe documentary crew that once shadowed Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch out to find its next subject: a dying Midwestern newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller, and the volunteer staff trying to keep it alive.

Two seasons and 20 episodes in, the show has carved out its own identity — a workplace comedy about local journalism running on fumes, built around a slow-burn newsroom romance and one of the most chaotic supporting characters on TV right now. Below: who's who, when every episode actually aired, and what happened in each season.

The Premise

The setup: the documentary crew from The Office lands on the Truth Teller, a once-respected paper now running on a skeleton crew of non-journalists. Ned Sampson, a salesman from Enervate's toilet paper division, talks his way into the editor-in-chief chair, convinced he can turn the paper around with volunteers and sheer nerve. Oscar Martinez — transferred over from Dunder Mifflin's accounting department — is the one face returning from the original series, now running the books as head accountant.

"May I present to you the award-winning staff of the Toledo Truth Teller." — Ned Sampson, Season 2 trailer

Main Cast & Characters

Gleeson anchors things as Ned, an outsider who genuinely believes he can save print journalism with the wrong team for the job. Impacciatore's Esmeralda, the paper's former advertorial queen, has become the show's chaos engine. Frei's Mare gives the show its emotional throughline as Ned's will-they-won't-they, and Nuñez's Oscar remains the one direct bridge back to Scranton.

Air Dates & Release Schedule

Season 1 almost didn't binge-drop at all. Peacock originally planned to roll the 10 episodes out over four weeks, but strong early reactions pushed the streamer to dump the entire season at once instead — all 10 episodes hit Peacock at midnight Pacific on September 4, 2025. Ten weeks later, NBC gave the show a second life on linear TV, airing it weekly on Monday nights at 8:30/7:30c starting November 10, 2025, paired with "St. Denis Medical."

Season 2 skipped the weekly experiment entirely. All 10 episodes premiered together on Peacock on September 9, 2026 — a day ahead of the UK, where the season landed on Sky and NOW on September 10. No NBC broadcast window has been announced for Season 2 as of this writing.

Season 1 Summary

Season 1's 10 episodes open with the crew discovering the Truth Teller and Ned talking his way into the top job. The first few episodes are pure survival mode — Ned's volunteer staff can barely scrape together a front page until Esmeralda forces them into action, and Ned starts tagging along on Mare's investigative work, including a consumer sting that plants the season's first real spark between them.

By its 4th episode, the paper is already in a turf war with a local high-school blog. Its 5th digs into a dating-app scammer story that hits close to home for Esmeralda. The back half widens out further still, building toward a season-ending push for the Ohio Journalism Awards that gives the fledgling staff its first taste of real legitimacy. Ten episodes in, the show had earned its comparison to The Office without leaning on it — a scrappy, mostly-likable ensemble still finding its footing, in-universe and out.

Season 2 Summary

Season 2 picks up fresh off that awards win, with Ned hunting for his next journalistic crusade — this time a local private club, a story that puts the paper's future on the line by its 3rd episode. The bigger engine of the season, though, is Ned and Mare finally reckoning with their attraction, a relationship they try to keep off the record even as HR gets looped in.

Esmeralda spends the season trying to find her footing beyond advertorials, floating everything from a haunted house event to interviewing to become "the consort of a powerful man." By the 7th episode a tornado is threatening Toledo and the staff is storm-chasing; by the 8th, Ned and Mare's secret is at real risk of getting out. Critics called the season funnier and more character-driven than Season 1, even as a few felt the mockumentary format was starting to show its age after 20 combined episodes.

"As the show continues to grow, you get The Office-like vibe, but the ability to stand out on its own is what makes this show worthy of watching." — Viewer reaction, Season 2

Complete Episode Guide