'The Office': Kathy Bates says she'll be back

When Kathy Bates signed on to star in NBC's midseason series "Harry's Law," it was presumed that signaled the end of her time on "The Office."

That's turned out not to be the case, though: The schedules of the two shows are such that Bates will be making her way back to Scranton after all.

"We actually wrapped our shooting of 'Harry's Law' yesterday [Jan. 12]," Bates told reporters Thursday at the TV critics winter press tour, "so I'm going to be appearing on a couple more episodes of 'The Office' this spring."

We last saw Bates as Sabre CEO Jo Bennett in "The Office's" season premiere, "Nepotism," where she encouraged Michael (Steve Carell) via videoconference to take care of the situation with his nephew. We also heard her voice in "WUPHF.com" in November.

She didn't share details of Jo's return -- although it seems a natural fit with Michael's departure from Dunder Mifflin. Stay tuned.