By “The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin and the cast of the critically acclaimed political drama series celebrated its 25th anniversary with a visit to the White House earlier today.
Sorkin, executive producer Thomas Schlamme and stars Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney, Emily Procter, Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack all met with President Joe Biden in the map room.
The group was given a personal tour of the building and First Lady Jill Biden held a formal Rose Garden ceremony for the show outside the real-life West Wing and Oval Office.
Speaking with Variety, Sorkin was asked if the visit has him considering a revival or reboot of the show. He responded:
“If I had an idea, sure. I didn’t think about it seriously, frankly, until today… We’ll see what happens when I wake up tomorrow. But, if you’re asking me now, this is how I feel.
I just got a couple of ideas for episodes just walking around the White House. Like, ‘why didn’t we ever do this? Why didn’t we ever do that?’”
Sorkin adds that he has hesitated on a new version of the series in the past because he feared audiences would miss the original cast too much:
“I suspect that a new president would have a hard time living up to people’s memories of Martin, but maybe enough time has gone by and it’s a whole new generation. A generation which, by the way, thanks to streaming, thinks we’re making the show today!”
Sorkin said he wouldn’t have a political agenda with a revival, but adds that it would be hard writing such an idealistic and aspirational show in today’s age:
“I just thought it was a great workplace against which to set. There are all kinds of stories that come over the transom that you can tell, and that aspirational, idealistic, romantic style of writing suits me.
Because part of it is being idealistic, it does need to feel like it’s taking place in the world that we live in for it to work. It does need to feel like our world…. We couldn’t possibly come up with stories in the room that are crazier than the actual stories that we see.”
Warner Bros. TV chairman Channing Dungey also attended the event and told the trade she’s open to whatever Sorkin wants to do, pointing out how a lot of shows right now are doing reboots.
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