In the first Michael Scott-less season of The Office, Ed Helms talks about his qualms with the direction of Andy as well as why he decided to stay on the show for its ninth season.

TVLine.com had the interesting interview, where Ed Helms noted that there were some questions about where Andy went as a character in season 8:

Andy was established very early on as a troubled character — somebody with some personality issues and anger issues. And someone who was ambitious to a fault, but also with a kind of a magnanimous heart that always kept him in check. And to me, that is a really fun character because he’s constantly in conflict with himself — his own ambitions are always fighting his inherent good nature. And I do think that as we sort of tried to find where and how those aspects of Andy fit into more of a leadership role, there was a little too much focus on the good-hearted nature of Andy, and I was kind of working hard to figure that out and understand it. I’m not a writer on the show so some things I don’t have as much control over, but where I started to kind of tap back into what I think is special, unique, and exciting about Andy is when we did start to uncover those insecurities.

Helms also talked about how fun the Emmy ceremonies are and how after passing on Steve Carrell as best actor for several years, he has learned that the awards are not a barometer of talent:

Well, the ceremony is fun. It’s fun to just celebrate the people that we like and that make us laugh or move us on TV. But you can’t take it too seriously because it will start to mess with your head. And then, of course, when they pass on Steve Carell for best actor for like seven consecutive years then it’s sort of just absurd. I think Carell just was transcendent — and that’s not a knock on any of the winners in that category. But when you see that, it does sort of keep it in perspective that the Emmys are more about entertainment than any kind of legitimate metric of who is a good actor or who is better than who.

Helms also had interesting things to say regarding why he stuck around for another season of The Office:

Well, I had a lot of fun this year and it just seemed like, let’s go around the block again! And there have been a lot of discussions internally about some storylines that I’m excited to explore and be a part of. And at the end of the day, as a working actor, you want to be a part of a process that you love and enjoy. And that’s actually a rare thing to be on a set just full of people that you admire and make you laugh all the time. It was a no-brainer.

Check out the full interview from TVLine.com here!

Are you excited to see where things go with Andy in season 9?