NBC Expands The Office Series Finale

The Office is being sent off in style.

NBC announced Tuesday that it will add an extra 15 minutes to the long-running sitcom's May 16 finale. The Office's last episode will now air 9-10:15 p.m., followed by Hannibal, which will run 10:15-11 p.m. with limited commercial interruptions.

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The news comes a little more than a month after a petition was launched to supersize The Office finale. Back in 2006, the show's Season 2 finale was also expanded from the normal 22 minutes to 28 minutes after a similar petition was set up. "The network's being creative about scraping more time together for us without having us start the finale in a weird time that will cause half the audience to miss the first 10 minutes or something," Showrunner Greg Daniels told reporters on a conference call last week.

The final episode will include a wedding and also catch up with the employees of Dunder Mifflin, past and present, months after the documentary has aired, according to an episode description released last month.

The Office finale will feature guest stars such as Rachael Harris, Dakota Johnson, Joan Cusack, Ed Begley Jr., as well as former series regulars Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak. It has been reported that the series' original protagonist Steve Carell will also appear, but his representative has denied this claim.