NBC is giving fans of The Office a nice little farewell present as the sitcom wraps up its nine-year run on May 16, 2012. The network has announced the final episode will be extended by 15 minutes, airing from 9pm till 10.15pm ET/PT. Though great news for Office fans, the news is hardly surprising given the show's executive producer Greg Daniels told the Los Angeles Times last week he was gearing up to make some pretty daunting edits on the final episode.

"There's all these moments and you want to make sure everybody has a chance to have some closure on their stories and say goodbye or whatever," he explained, adding, "It was a big question of trying to fit everything in. That's the big issue right now because we have an 81-minute cut for the final episodes, and we have to cut it down to about 41 or 42 minutes. That's half of it! I don't know how we're gonna to do it."

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant faced a similarly difficult task when wrapping up the original UK version of the show without leaving storylines open ended. One thing definitely happening in the season finale is the return of Steve Carell's Michael Scott, who will make a special cameo appearance.

Because of the episode extension, drama 'Hannibal' will air from 10.15 till 11.00pm with "limited interruption."

Mindy Kaling Greg Daniels'The Office' writers Mindy Kaling [L] and Greg Daniels [R] Have Kept Quiet On The Series Finale