After two seasons away, Steve Carell will be returning as Michael Scott in the season finale of The Office. Despite numerous reports denying his involvement in the final episode of the long-running show, it now seems that Carell will in fact be returning to Dundler Mifflin one last time, TV Line first reported.

Last week, amidst the first round of reports that Carell would be returning, show creator Greg Daniels said that neither he nor Steve felt that Michael Scott needed to be in the final because it would overshadow the rest of the cast too much. He said, “I think Steve felt, and I agree, that the ‘Goodbye, Michael’ episode was his goodbye and he didn’t want to overshadow the ending that all the other characters deserved.”

Steve Carell
Steve Carell has hardly struggled to find work since leaving The Office

The new reports however say that Michael Scott will be returning to his once beloved Dundler Mifflin, but rather than make a screen-grabbing guest appearance, his time on the final episode will be more of a cameo than anything else. Meanwhile, NBC declined to comment on the situation, while a spokesperson for Carell has insisted that the Office finale will not feature the iconic character, but they would say that.

The America reboot of Ricky Gervais' hugely influential The Office will finish for good after nearly 200 episodes with a 60-minute special airing on NBC on May 16. Former The Office stars Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak have already confirmed that they will be returning for the final episode, whilst the show's creator Gervais has apparently turned down the offer to appear.

Steve Carell