At long last, fans have learned the father of Jan’s baby on The Office is none other than tennis star, Andy Roddick. The identity of baby Astrid’s father has been one of the lingering questions of the series since Jan first announced her pregnancy at the end of the 4th season. Now, the only big The Office mystery fans have left to solve is who the real Scranton Strangler is.
Jan’s pregnancy was a plot point introduced as a complication for when Michael Scott began courting love interest, Holly Flax. Fortunately for the Michael-Holly relationship, Jan did not seem that interested in keeping Michael involved in her pregnancy, and did not even bother calling Michael when she went into labor. Though Jan never revealed the identity of baby Astrid’s father during the series, she insisted it was not Michael as she had gone to a sperm bank in Scranton. However, it is briefly hinted that accountant Kevin Malone might be the father, as he frequented that particular sperm bank, much to Jan’s horror when she learned of it.
Thanks to information revealed during the Office Ladies podcast and reporting by Uproxx, the father of Jan’s baby has now been confirmed as tennis player, Andy Roddick. While going through old scripts for the episode “Goodbye Toby, Part 2,” star, Angela Kinsey, found dialogue where Jan bragged to Michael about who the father was. Jan stated that she had “to pay top dollar” and tried to impress Michael by pointing out that Roddick was “the sixth ranked player in the world and he’s won four grand slams.” Here’s the full breakdown from the script:
Jan says, ‘You have to pay top dollar, but it’s worth it. Now, here’s the best part. I got Andy Roddick’s sperm.’ And Jan looks to Michael like she’s expecting him to be very impressed. And Michael says, ‘The tennis player?’ And Jan says, ‘Well, it’s a little more than that. He’s the sixth ranked player in the world and he’s won four grand slams.’ And Michael says, ‘That’s a lot of grand slams, I guess.’ And Jan says, ‘And he’s a humanitarian — something with orphans.’ And Michael is quiet and Jan goes, ‘Michael?’ And Michael says, ‘Can I just sit here for a minute without more things coming into my head?’
Co-star, Jenna Fischer, wondered if they had chosen Roddick because of his friendship with Office star, Rainn Wilson. She also said that Roddick “has an amazing sense of humor,” which could also factor into the choice of him as the father. At the time, Roddick was known for making appearances on numerous late night talk shows, hosting SNL in 2003, making a joke ad for This is SportsCenter, and in general not being all that worried about taking himself too seriously in the media.
The real question, of course, is whether or not any of this can be considered “canon” for The Office, since it was not officially in the episode, nor in deleted scenes. Kinsey was reading lines from a script that could have been cut out for a reason. Perhaps creator, Greg Daniels, changed his mind at the last minute and did not want Roddick to be the father, and Kinsey did not keep the revised script? Maybe there’s a newer script out there where the whole scene was scrapped, or another celebrity’s name was inserted instead of the tennis star? For all we know, Kevin Malone could actually be the father of baby Astrid. Until the producers of The Office provide clarification, fans should feel free to believe whatever they would like.
SOURCE: Office Ladies (h/t Uproxx)
Originally from https://screenrant.com/office-show-jan-baby-andy-roddick-father-details/