James Spader will join the cast of the U.S. sitcom "The Office" next season, NBC has confirmed.

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The network said the Emmy Award-winning actor will again play Robert California, who was introduced in the previous season finale as a contender to fill the Dunder Mifflin regional manager position Michael Scott left when his portrayer Steve Carell left the show to focus on his film career.

"James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior," Paul Lieberstein, one of the series' co-stars and executive producers, said in a statement Wednesday.

"He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and 'The Office' has no tools for dealing with this guy. We're thrilled he's joining our cast."

Spader starred in a string of hit films in the 1980s and most recently won acclaim on the dramedy "Boston Legal."