Once upon a time in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a Dunder Mifflin merger brought some new characters into the fold on The Office, but not all of these characters ended up beloved. If you'll recall, back in the third season of the hit NBC comedy series, Jim transfers to the Stamford branch, but that branch was later merged with the Scranton branch, bringing him back to his old pals with new friends.
One of those new friends was Karen Filippelli, played by Rashida Jones, who becomes a love interest for Jim. Obviously, during this time, Jim's relationship with Pam was just getting started. When Jim arrives back at Scranton, there's a bit of jealousy on Pam's end about Jim's new relationship with Karen, and those hard feelings definitely extended much deeper from the audience.
Rashida Jones says The Office fans hated Karen
Appearing on Parks and Recreation costar and friend Amy Poehler's The Ringer and Spotify podcast Good Hang, the pair chatted about everything and anything, including details fans want to know about their days as Leslie and Ann. While getting into the origins of Parks and Rec, Jones revealed the truth about being "let go" from The Office due to the fans' response to her character.
Mike Schur was writing a new comedy series for NBC that was originally misconstrued as a spinoff of The Office but was something entirely different: Parks and Recreation. Because she had been written out of The Office, Jones was approached about appearing in the series early in its development. (Funnily enough, Jones and Poehler, who were good friends before Parks began, initially believed they were up for the same role. They weren't!)
In explaining the origin story of Parks and Rec, Jones shared some behind the scenes scoop about her departure as Karen after season 3:
"I had done a year on The Office, and they let me go, which made sense. It made sense. [...] People did not like me. Like, fans were not about it. But they had to create tension for the relationship to be earned later. So, I was the third point in the triangle. It's fine, I accept it."
Poehler admits that her friend had a "tough job" on The Office playing a "likable, cool" character who got in the way of the Jim and Pam love story. Jones said it didn't "feel that way," meaning she didn't feel any love from fans on Karen's behalf. No matter how likable or cool Karen was, there were still some fans who couldn't see past the role the character played in keeping Jim and Pam apart.
As a fan of The Office who watched the show long after its conclusion, but watched Parks and Recreation from day 1 (go figure!), I had missed the big discourse around Karen at the time. Of course, you're aware of the massive adoration for Jim and Pam, but the Karen hate wasn't as prominent as that for Cathy Simms (Lindsay Broad) in season 8.
During my watch of The Office, I actually liked Karen, but that's probably to do with the fact that, one, I knew already knew Jim and Pam would end up together, and two, I also already had a strong connection to Jones from Parks and Rec. I didn't have to feel anything negative toward Karen and could appreciate her as a character and Jones' performance.
Karen honestly lasted about as long as she could on The Office, even coming back for brief cameos in seasons 5 and 7. What would the trajectory have been for Jim and Karen's relationship and how long could they drag it out? But everything ended up as it should. Jones was meant to play Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation, and if she'd played Karen longer, maybe that wouldn't have happened.
Watch Amy Poehler's full conversation with Rashida Jones below!
Watch The Office and Parks and Recreation on Peacock.