Ricky Gervais said he didn’t try to stop Steve Carell from leaving the U.S. version of "The Office," which Gervais co-created and of which he is one of the producers, reports Deadline.com

Reporting on a conversation Gervais had on CNN’s "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, Deadline says Gervais told Morgan, "I sent [Carell] an email saying ‘I think you are doing the right thing,’ As a producer, I was expected to try and stop him because he is a big part of it."

The article continues, saying that Gervais then predicted that the show can survive without Carell as its star, but added, "Whether it should or not I don’t know."

Gervais was also the star in the original British version of  "The Office."