“The West Wing” could possibly return to the office.
Aaron Sorkin, creator of the political drama series that aired from 1999 to 2006, revealed after visiting the White House on Friday that he is thinking about reviving the show.
“If I have an idea, sure,” Sorkin, 63, said. Diversity“To be honest, I haven't really thought about it seriously until today… We'll see what happens when I wake up tomorrow. But, if you're asking me right now, this is how I feel.”
Sorkin was joined by Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney and other cast members from “The West Wing” to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.
They were greeted by First Lady Jill Biden, who hosted them at a formal ceremony in the Rose Garden.
“I got some ideas for episodes just walking around the White House,” Sorkin told Variety. “Like, 'Why didn't we do this? Why didn't we do that?'”
The legendary writer and director revealed he's hesitant to bring “The West Wing” back because he fears fans will miss the original cast.
“I suspect the new president will have a hard time retaining people's memories of Martin,” Sorkin said of Sheen, 84, who played fictional Democratic President Jed Bartlet.
“But maybe enough time has passed and this is a whole new generation,” Sorkin said. “A generation that, by the way, thanks to streaming, thinks we’re making shows today!”
The show aired on NBC in 1999, when Bill Clinton was president. It ended seven years later during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Sorkin said it could be “very difficult” to create storylines for a potential revival of the show amid the current political climate — especially if Donald Trump is elected for a second time in November.
“It would definitely give an incentive to do it, but also a headache,” he said. “The worry would be that anything we did on the show would be seen as being indebted to Donald Trump's world.”
While in the White House, Sorkin compared President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 election to a “West Wing” moment.
“The truth is, ‘The West Wing’ has its moments,” Sorkin said, addressing the first lady. “And Dr. Biden, we saw evidence of that on the morning of July 21.”
Over the summer, Sorkin wrote an essay new York Times He appealed to Democrats to choose Republican Mitt Romney as their candidate after Biden's poor performance in the debate.
“Nominating Mr. Romney would be a vindication of what we just said: a clear and forceful demonstration that this election is not about our general election, but about preventing a deranged individual from gaining power,” Sorkin said in his editorial.
After Biden withdrew from the race, Sorkin retracted his pro-Romney argument and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
