Why John Krasinski Wore a Wig He Made Himself in Season 3 of 'The Office'

It's been nearly seven years since The Office concluded, and yet, we're still learning behind-the-scenes secrets about the hit show, probably because we're all just as obsessed with the Dunder Mifflin crew as ever. Many fans already knew that John Krasinski, who played Jim Halpert, wore a wig during Season 3, but recently it just came to light that the actor actually made the hairpiece himself, with the help of the on-set hairstylist.

At the time, Krasinski was also shooting a major role in the film Leatherheads (2008), which didn't exactly call for his signature shaggy hair from The Office. This meant that the actor had to chop his 'do short, and then rocked a wig while portraying the Scranton salesman.

A simple haircut may not seem like the biggest deal in the world, but as reported by Collider, Andy Greene’s book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s reveals that it was actually a pretty controversial matter. So much so, that a wig had to be made in secret.

"Continuity-wise and contractually-wise, actors are obligated to keep their hair how it is for a series unless they get producer approval, of course," hairstylist Kim Ferry explained. "But it would have been cutting his hair super short, which would mean getting rid of the wings on the side and his long hair. He came to me and said, ‘Could we do a wig?’ He went to talk to them and said, ‘I really want to do this project.’ And they were like, ‘I think it would be obvious that it was a wig.'"

Unfortunately, showrunner Greg Daniels was totally against the idea of the wig, so Krasinski had to keep it hush-hush that he'd cut his hair. Ferry also added of the situation, "Hiring a wig maker is not inexpensive. We did the fitting in his trailer and when it was done it looked amazing. It looked exactly like him." So when Daniels did find out about the wig, he'd been fooled so well he wasn't even mad.

"John told me later that Greg said to him, ‘John, I’ll know if it’s a wig. You can’t fake that kind of thing,’" Ferry recounted. "As he’s staring at him with the wig on. And then John’s like, ‘Really? I don’t think you would,’ and he takes it off right in front of him." Amazing.

Krasinski not only had his boss fooled, but he had viewers tricked, too... Well, most of them, anyway! Thankfully, he didn't get booted from the show after the incident and we were blessed with nine full seasons of Jim Halpert. To buy Greene's behind-the-scenes book, buy it on Amazon here.