Though The Office featured many memorable characters, not a single Dunder Mifflin employee went through as much change as Ryan Howard. Ryan went through job changes, personality changes, and even moral changes over the course of the series. While many of these transitions made him into a more complicated character, they usually also turned him into a far worse person.
It’s time to head back to Scranton and focus on the most frequently developing character; Here are ten of the big changes Ryan underwent throughout The Office.
He Climbs The Corporate Ladder
Ryan is first hired by Dunder Mifflin Paper Company as a temp. He has no plans of staying there longterm and simply wants to get in and get out. However, despite being dissatisfied with his job, he gets sucked into the workplace blackhole.
Ryan ends up taking over Jim's salesman job after he transfers to another branch. Later, he takes over Jan’s job as VP in New York, and this success goes straight to his head.
He Gets Cocky
Ryan is pretty mild-mannered when the audience is first introduced to him. Though he uses sarcasm to cope with his job at the office, he’s not particularly brash or rude when making a joke. This all changes after he becomes the youngest VP in company history.
Ryan comes back to the Scranton branch feeling like a big-shot. He sprinkles around business buzzwords and acts like he owns the place even if his former co-workers are unimpressed.
He Puts On New Clothes
When Ryan first rolls back to Scranton, he wears a sharp black suit over his usual collared shirts. As the stress of his higher role gets to him, however, his ensembles grow more disheveled.
Later in the series, Michael finds Ryan working at a bowling alley while sporting bleached tips. He gets another major look update in later seasons after he takes on a hipster persona.
He Becomes A Hipster
In Season 6, Ryan’s looks start to appear more pretentious as he puts on suspenders, bow ties, and scarves. This outward clothing is an expression of a major personality shift.
Ryan becomes obsessed with being “cool.” While Season 1 Ryan cares little about his co-workers' opinions, evolved Ryan wants people to think that he has all the knowledge on the newest, snappiest thing.
Ryan Becomes Vengeful
Ryan has no problem with Jim in early seasons. Though the two don’t interact heavily with one another, they get along fine when they do. This all changes after Ryan — who inherited Jim’s job — sees the salesman return to the branch. Ryan refuses to give Jim his old desk back, hinting at his dislike of him.
Ryan starts to feel more threatened by Jim in Season 4 when he notices his strong relationship with David Wallace. This has Ryan conspiring to get Jim kicked out of the company. Eventually, he adds Jim to his list of co-workers who “will be sorry” if he ever figures out how to scale the cooperate ladder once again.
He Gets Addicted To A Reckless Lifestyle
Ryan’s stressful VP job makes him turn to drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, all his hard-partying is harmful to him, and he turns into an addict.
While Michael inadvertently helps Ryan get free of his addictions, his advice doesn’t settle in until it’s too late; Ryan gets fired from the company.
He Becomes A Criminal
Ryan misleads Dunder Mifflin's shareholders by double-counting office sales as website sales. Messing with the numbers ultimately leads Ryan to arrest, and he gets escorted out of Dunder Mifflin’s New York office.
While Ryan's community service sentence is no fun, he gets an even worse punishment: being ripped from his prestigious position. His reputation goes down with it.
He Handles His Money Poorly
Though The Office doesn’t reveal how Ryan uses his money at the start of the series, he doesn’t drive a flashy car or wear fancy clothes. He seems to live within his means. This all changes after he inherits the VP job.
Though Ryan is more wealthy than he previously was, he starts to make purchases for the sake of showing it off. He brags about his $200 haircuts, he (as aforementioned) wears nice suits, and he lives it up in New York City just to feel good about himself.
He Becomes A Playboy
Ryan doesn’t have any wild romances when he starts at Dunder Mifflin, but by the end of Season 2, he gets interested in Kelly. He has no problem dumping her in Season 3 when he becomes VP and starts to carelessly cycle through girls.
When Ryan heads back to Scranton, he shamelessly flirts with Pam. Even after Ryan is knocked down from the top, however, he still tries to seduce women. He bluntly asks Erin to sleep with him; she asks if he's joking.
He Loses Focus Of What He Wants
If there is one thing that most explains what happened to Ryan, it’s this; He lost focus.
While young Ryan wants to escape Dunder Mifflin and do something bigger with his life, he ends up back at the company time and time again.
His loss of focus spills into other areas, too, like in his relationship with Kelly. As he runs away into the sunset with her during the series finale, he yells, “I finally mastered commitment!” Alas, this ironic remark proves that he still doesn’t know what he values most in life. He'll fall back into his cycle soon enough.