Although he didn't have a large role on The Office, Devon White played an important part in the show's history as he was the very first character to be fired from Dunder Mifflin. Devon was primarily a background character in the first two seasons, and was seen working at his desk or on cigarette breaks. It wasn’t until season 2, episode 5, “Halloween” that Devon got most of his dialogue (and his biggest storyline).
In the season 2 episode, Michael proved to be a good boss as he struggled with his conscience when corporate forces him to fire someone. Unsure of whom to fire because his colleagues are like his family, Michael chose to fire Creed. However, Creed soon argues his side and encourages Michael to fire Devon White instead. Devon being fired certainly helped make this one of The Office's most iconic Halloween episodes; however, it turns out that this storyline was loosely inspired by a tough decision the writers were facing behind-the-scenes as well.
The Office Writers Had To Choose Between Creed Bratton & Devon Abner In Real Life
On The Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer (Pam Beasley) explained how creator Greg Daniels had come up with the idea because it was loosely based on real life events. While it was a tough decision, Daniels did eventually settle on firing a background character since everyone else had contract obligations. This meant, however, that Creed Bratton or Devon Abner weren't safe.
The crew shot two different endings because the writers were unsure how they wanted the episode to pan out. In the end, the writers fired Devon from the series because he had a busier schedule that could have impacted his filming of The Office anyway. Creed stayed afloat and continued as the spontaneous wildcard that separated him from every other character on the show. Unlike Devon, Creed went on to commit crimes in and out of the office.
The Impact Of Choosing Creed Over Devon
In the end, firing Devon was the right choice because Creed became a unique but questionable characters on the show. No one was sure what he actually did at work and there’s a good amount of evidence that he was the Scranton Strangler. The Scranton Stranger was a murderer on the loose in Scranton, and police couldn’t catch him for years. On multiple occasions, Creed exhibited shady behavior that led fans theorizing that he was the strangler. Because of his odd behavior, he made a real name on The Office that wouldn’t have been done if he was fired in season 2's “Halloween.”
What Did Devon Abner Do After The Office?
While it took a long time to discover what happened to Devon after season 2 of The Office, he did eventually come back on in season 9 after Dwight Schrute became regional manager. Dwight hired Devon again to replace Creed as the newest Quality Assurance Manager.after he went on the run for a series of crimes, and was seen working at Creed's old desk.
After Abner left The Office, he continued acting in movies like Wild Horses and American Crime Story, but hasn't been in any roles since 2016. It's unknown what would have happened if Michael kept Devon White as a worker at Dunder Mifflin instead of Creed, but things worked out how they were supposed to on The Office. To date, The Office has been Abner's more engaging and popular roles.