Aaron Sorkin is considering a ‘West Wing’ reboot after a visit to the White House
Aaron Sorkin was clearly moved on Friday during his visit to the White House to celebrate the 25the anniversary of “The West Wing” — so much so that it has him considering a revival of the critically adored political drama.
“If I had an idea, sure,” Sorkin said Variety then. “To be honest, I haven’t seriously thought about it until today. We’ll see what happens when I wake up tomorrow. But if you ask me now, this is how I feel.
Sorkin, director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme and stars Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney, Emily Procter, Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack met President Joe Biden in the map room and then received a personal tour of the building. (President Biden then left for meetings in Delaware.) Later, First Lady Jill Biden held a formal Rose Garden ceremony before the show, just outside the real West Wing and Oval Office.
“I just got some ideas for episodes that just walk through the White House,” Sorkin said. “Like, ‘Why haven’t we ever done this? Why haven’t we ever done that?’”
Sorkin said he has hesitated in the past about a new edition of “The West Wing” because he feared audiences would miss the original cast too much. “I suspect a new president would have a hard time living up to people’s memories of Martin,” he said of Sheen and his character, President Jed Bartlet. “But maybe enough time has passed and it’s a whole new generation. A generation that, thanks to streaming, actually thinks that we are making the show today!”
Sorkin said he has no political agenda when it comes to considering a “West Wing” revival. “I just thought it was a great workplace to be in front of,” he said. “There are all kinds of stories about the mirror that you can tell, and that ambitious, idealistic, romantic writing style suits me.”
Of course, the political climate has changed dramatically since “The West Wing” went off the air in 2006 after seven seasons. And Sorkin admitted, “We couldn’t possibly come up with stories that are crazier than the actual stories we tell. to see.”
He agreed that sticking to an ambitious, idealistic narrative could be “very difficult” in this climate. “Because it’s partly idealistic, it has to feel like it’s happening in the world we live in for it to work,” he said. “It has to feel like our world. So it would be hard, but as Brad Whitford, as Josh Lyman, says in the season 3 premiere, “20 Hours in America,” “it’s going to be hard,” and Toby says, “it’s the hard that makes it good.” ”
Sorkin also said it’s a good question whether a second Trump presidency would make a revival of “The West Wing” more or less attractive to him. “It would certainly create incentives to do it, but it would also create headaches,” he said. “The concern would be that everything we did on the show would be seen as a refutation of the world of Donald Trump.”
Warner Bros. TV Chairman Channing Dungey, who was also at the White House event, said she is open to whatever Sorkin decides he wants to do. (She has hinted in the past that she would be open to doing a new version of “The West Wing.”)
“There are a lot of shows being rebooted right now, and I think it would be hard to go back to ‘The West Wing,’ but I wouldn’t put it past Aaron,” she said. “He’s a very smart guy. What I like about “The West Wing” is that it wasn’t a partisan show. It was a show about people willing to fight for something bigger than themselves. They frequently had arguments and debates on both sides of the aisle. I like that as a kind of idealistic view of how things can work. If you were to start now, today, in the current climate, things would certainly be different. The political landscape has changed a lot since this show was made.
Dr. Biden, Sorkin and Sheen all gave speeches at the White House event, and Sorkin drew applause for pointing out that Joe Biden’s decision in July to end his presidential campaign for the good of the country felt like an idealistic moment that directly from ‘The West Wing.”
“Over the years, I have noticed that in times of great political tension, experts will warn us not to expect a ‘West Wing’ moment, not to expect the selfless act of statesmanship, and not to expect anyone to put his country on the first place.” Sorkin said in his speech. “But the fact is that ‘West Wing’ moments happen. And dr. Biden, we saw evidence of that on the morning of July 21.”
Later, Sorkin noted that he remembered that when news of Biden’s departure from the race was announced, he thought it was such a “West Wing”-esque sacrifice that “you could almost hear the music coming under what he did .’
Sorkin said he doesn’t mind pundits labeling something like a “West Wing” moment. “I hope it’s something to aspire to,” he said, especially in this dark and divided political world. “You don’t have to look far to see reminders of how sad it is about how far we’ve gone. But I don’t think we’ve gone so far that we can’t come back. Hopefully we can solve it.”
The White House event featured many unique details inspired by the show, including a performance by the White House Marine Band themed to “The West Wing” and a cocktail called “The Jackal,” named after a dance and lip sync by the the show’s press secretary. CJ Cregg (played by Allison Janney). A “big block of cheese,” another reference from the show, could be found among a host of memorabilia stationed in a White House exhibit celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary.e anniversary of ‘The West Wing’, as well as a model from the show’s set.
“I can’t tell you how many people from the Marine Corps, band directors, Secret Service agents to senior aides, would say that ‘The West Wing’ made them want to go into public service, and that was a big deal. ,” said Sorkin. “It was an emotional day. They had clearly seen the series!”
Dungey added: “It’s amazing the impact ‘The West Wing’ has had over the years. It was great to see how many people were excited and inspired to meet their television heroes. You can’t help but be impressed by this. There was a moment where they surprised us, when we went on to the balcony of the East Wing, and they had the Marine Band play the theme song. Everyone’s eyes were glowing.”
In her remarks at the event, Biden praised the show’s storytelling: “When ‘The West Wing’ lights up our screens, every swell of the opening theme, every fast-talking, fast-walking through seemingly endless halls – every performance – changes the way we see the world. civil servants behind these white walls, striving for a better future. So every time we fall into cynicism or apathy, all we have to do is think of Jed Bartlet’s White House. A place where there are large blocks of cheese and everyone belongs. Where you do it well. That’s the story that The West Wing showed the nation: this family that we’re creating here, dedicated to a purpose bigger than anyone else.”
Biden then introduced Sheen, who delivered a fiery speech that could have come from President Barlet on the campaign trail, reading “Where The Mind Is Without Fear” by Rabindranath Tagore. (The poem, written about India under British rule, ends with the phrase ‘let my country wake up’ – perhaps now also a call to citizens to stop sleeping on the challenge facing democracy in the US)
Sorkin said his original plan to celebrate the 25e The anniversary of “The West Wing” was just about emailing Schlamme and musing on how much time had passed. Instead, with the help of Warner Bros. TV, turned into a weeklong celebration, including a cast reunion at Sunday’s Emmys.
“The idea behind ‘The West Wing’ from the beginning was that our elected leaders are generally portrayed in pop culture as Machiavellian or as idiots,” he said. “I thought, what if they were as dedicated and skilled as the doctors and nurses on hospital shows, the cops on a cop show, the lawyers on a David E. Kelley show? Hopefully we wanted to entertain you from nine to ten, force you however long we wanted your attention, and everything else was gravy.
Missing from the White House ceremony were a handful of stars working on film projects, including Alison Janney, Rob Lowe and Bradley Whitford. “The rest of us are apparently unemployed,” Sorkin joked. To which Biden quickly replied: “Not yet!” she joked.
