Steve Carell not returning for 'The Office' finale

Will Steve Carell return to "The Office" for one final farewell? (The hour finale is May 16.) Sorry, but it is not to be. Show-runner and executive producer Greg Daniels -- who adapted the American classic from the British classic of the same name -- confirmed to reporters what he and Carell have indicated all along: A Michael Scott return, even for old times' sake, is not going to take place. (The finale has already been taped.)

"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," he said in a conference call Wednesday. Carell, 50, left his role in 2011.

Daniels added that the finale will be a reunion show, inspired by the two-part Christmas closer that wrapped the Ricky Gervais / Stephen Merchant version in 2003. "After attempting to beat that [British] ending in a number of different ways, we ended up doing something very similar," Daniels said.