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The cast of The West Wing wants a revival of the beloved show just as much as fans do.
Series creator Aaron Sorkin has been teasing a potential reboot of the Emmy-winning political drama since 2017, but no solid steps have been made — as far as the public knows — to bring the series back to life.
But after a recent cast reunion at the unveiling of Bradley Whitford’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the actor promised Variety that he will pressure Sorkin to write new episodes.
“I’ll work him,” Whitford — who is about to star in a Broadway revival of Sorkin’s play A Few Good Men — told the outlet. “I think there could be a limited series of some kind.”
Whitford’s former castmates Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Mary McCormack and Josh Malina joined him at the Wednesday ceremony, where Hill similarly told Variety that he would also be interested in returning to the series.
“I always say that’s a question for Aaron Sorkin,” Hill said. “If he writes it, then I will come. I think if he writes it, then we all will be there.”
He added: “Sometimes I wonder though where things are in the world. Things are so outlandish, I don’t know how you dramatize any of that. With him writing, it would be a lovely thing to hopefully steer the collective consciousness of our society back toward humanity and connectivity and understanding.”
The West Wing premiered on NBC in 1999 and ran for seven seasons, winning 27 Emmy Awards from 95 nominations. The ensemble cast also included Allison Janney, Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Richard Schiff and John Spencer.
Schiff, who won an Emmy for his performance as White House communications director Toby Ziegler on the show, said on a 2019 episode of the Popcorn Talk Network’s online show I Could Never Be that, at one point, he had pitched Sorkin ideas about a potential reboot of the show.
“Aaron has said he wanted it to happen,” the actor said at the time. “He might go with a new administration, in which case, you know, some of us might show up as consultants or whatever in that administration.”
Sorkin previously told Variety that he had considered writing new episodes while attending a 25th anniversary of the show at the White House in 2024.
“I just got a couple of ideas for episodes just walking around the White House,” he said at the time. “Like, ‘why didn’t we ever do this? Why didn’t we ever do that?’”
The Independent has reached out to Sorkin for further comment.
