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Years after The Office ended, Jenna Fischer finally revealed what was in the note that Jim gave Pam in the final season of the show. The reveal came as part of Fischer and Angela Kinsey’s Office Ladies podcast, where the best friends rewatch the show and talk about what happened behind the scenes.
The teapot note has been a long-time question among fans of The Office. As viewers will remember, Jim first tried to give Pam a note inside his Christmas gift to her in Season 2, Episode 10, which is titled “The Christmas Party.” At that time, though, he took the note back before she saw it.
During the final season of The Office, Jim and Pam go through a rough time in their marriage, leading to him finally giving her that note. It turns out, the note wasn’t actually written from Jim to Pam, though.
The Teapot Note Was Written by John Krasinski
Though the note was originally used as a prop during the second season of The Office, Fischer said the note she opened later on was actually written during the final season. The podcast took an emotional turn as she talked about the contents of the note for the first time.
She said the note was written by costar John Krasinski, who played Jim.
“I’m the only one, and John knows. In that episode of Season 9, I believe Greg [Daniels] suggested to John that he write a personal message from himself to me just saying what our time together on The Office meant to him,” she said. “Because we were wrapping up filming, we were wrapping up the series and we were all so emotional at that time, you know?”
She said that the note was Krasinski’s goodbye to her.
‘The Office’ On-Screen Emotional Moments Were Sometimes Unscripted
The scene with Pam reading the letter was filmed much like the last scene Fischer shared with Steve Carrell on The Office. During Carrell’s last episode, Pam catches up to him at the airport to say goodbye as he’s getting on a plane to go meet Holly at their new home.
Fischer said during that scene, Paul Fieg told her to just go up and say goodbye to “your friend Steve.” Fischer said Carrell didn’t know that she was going to run up to him and tell him that she had a great time with him on the show and she was going to miss him. The actresses said this made the emotions more real sometimes.
Kinsey also revealed that her goodbye with Oscar Nunez, who played Oscar Martinez on the show, was emotional and unscripted. She said she was told to express her love for the show and everyone involved when she was supposed to tell Oscar she loved Dwight. She said she “disintegrated.”
“Those moments became very honest for us under that kind of direction,” Kinsey said. “And we all had little moments like that.”
When speaking about what it was like for her to open the note and read it for the first time, Fischer said she broke down and the first take of the scene was probably not usable.
“It was the sweetest note, and you know, on camera, Pam says ‘I’ll never say what it said, but just know it was perfect,” Fischer said. “Well, I’ll never say exactly what John wrote, but I will say: just know it was perfect.”
The note was about what it meant to work together on the show and was supposedly very sweet.
The Office Ladies podcast comes out with a new episode every Wednesday. It’s available to listen to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and everywhere podcasts are available. It has been nominated for a Shorty Award for Best Podcast.
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