Aaron Sorkin Considers Remaking 'West Wing' After White House Visit

Aaron Sorkin was visibly emotional Friday as he visited the White House to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the United States.^D This was the third year in a row that The West Wing had celebrated its anniversary — so much so that it had him considering reviving the critically acclaimed political drama.

“If I had an idea, sure,” Sorkin said. diverse “After that. I didn’t think about it seriously, honestly, until today… We’ll see what happens when I wake up tomorrow. But, if you’re asking me now, this is how I feel.”

Sorkin, director and executive producer Thomas Schlamme, and stars Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Emily Proctor, Melissa Fitzgerald, and Mary McCormack met with President Joe Biden in the Map Room, then took a personal tour of the building. (President Biden later left for meetings in Delaware.) Later, First Lady Jill Biden hosted a formal Rose Garden ceremony for the show, which took place directly outside the West Wing and the real-life Oval Office.

“I just had some ideas for episodes that took place while I was walking around the White House,” Sorkin said. “Like, why haven't we done this before? Why haven't we done this before?”

Sorkin has said he hesitated to do a new version of “The West Wing” in the past because he feared audiences would miss the original cast too much. “I think the new president is going to 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 there’s a whole new generation. A generation that thinks, by the way, thanks to streaming, we’re making the show today!”

Sorkin said he had no political agenda when it came to thinking about reviving “The West Wing.” “I thought it was a great place to work to put myself in front of this place,” he said. “There are all kinds of stories to tell, and this aspirational, idealistic, romantic style of writing suited me.”

Of course, the political environment has changed dramatically since “The West Wing” ended its seven-season run in 2006. “We could never have come up with stories in the room that were crazier than the actual stories we were seeing,” Sorkin admitted.

He agreed that sticking to an ambitious, idealistic story could be “very difficult” in this climate. “Because part of it is idealistic, it has to feel like it’s in the world we live in for it to work,” he said. “It has to feel like it’s our world. So, it’s going to be hard, but as Brad Whitford says, as Josh Lyman says in the season three 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 good to wonder whether a second Trump presidency would make reviving “The West Wing” more or less appealing to him. “It would certainly provide incentives to do it, but it would also create headaches,” he said. “The concern is that everything we did on the show would be seen as a refutation of Donald Trump’s world.”

Warner Bros. Television CEO Channing Dungey, who was at the White House event, said she was open to whatever Sorkin decided he wanted to do. (She has hinted in the past that she would be open to a new version of “The West Wing.”)

“There are so many shows right now that are remaking it, and I think it would be hard to go back to ‘The West Wing,’ but I wouldn’t rule that out for Aaron,” she said. “He’s a very smart guy. What I love about ‘The West Wing’ is that it wasn’t a partisan show. It was a show about people who were willing to fight for something bigger than themselves. They regularly had arguments and debates between both sides of the aisle. I love that as a kind of idealistic view of how things work. If I started now, today, in the current climate, it would definitely be different. The political landscape has changed a lot since that show was made.”

Dr. Biden, Sorkin and Sheen all spoke at the White House event, with Sorkin receiving a standing ovation when he noted that Joe Biden’s decision in July to end his presidential campaign for the good of the country was a perfect moment straight out of “The West Wing.”

“I’ve noticed over the years that during times of heightened political tension, experts warn us not to expect a West Wing moment, not to expect selfless statesmanship, not to expect anyone to put country first,” Sorkin said in his speech. “But the truth is that West Wing moments do happen. And Dr. Biden, we saw evidence of that on the morning of July 21.”

Sorkin later recalled that he remembered thinking, when news broke that Biden was dropping out of the race, that it was such a “West Wing”-style sacrifice that “you could almost hear the music coming under what he did.”

Sorkin said he doesn’t mind when experts describe such events as a “West Wing moment.” “I hope it’s something to look forward to,” he said, especially in this dark, divided political world. “You don’t have to look far to find a reminder of how sad we are about how far we’ve come. But I don’t think we’ve come so far that we can’t go back. I hope we can fix it.”

The White House event featured several unique touches inspired by the show, including a performance by the White House Marine Band of the West Wing theme and a cocktail called the “Jackal,” after a dance and lip-sync performed by the show’s press secretary, C.J. Craig (played by Allison Janney). A “big block of cheese,” another nod to the show, can be found among the collection of memorabilia placed inside the White House display to celebrate the 25th anniversary.^D A memorial to the West Wing, along with a sample of the show's set.

“I can’t tell you how many Marines, bandleaders, Secret Service agents, top aides, will say that ‘The West Wing’ is what made them want to work in public service, and that was a big deal,” Sorkin said. “It was an emotional day. They obviously watched it!”

“It’s amazing to see the kind of impact that The West Wing has had over the years,” Dungey added. “It’s been really cool to see how many people were excited and inspired to meet their TV heroes. You can’t help but be amazed. There was a moment that really surprised us, when we went out to the East Wing balcony, and they were playing the Marine Corps Band’s theme song. Everyone was in tears.”

In her remarks at the event, Biden praised the show’s storytelling: “When The West Wing lights up our screens, every burst of the opening song, every quick jaunt through the seemingly endless halls—every performance—changes the way we see the public servants behind those white walls, striving for a better tomorrow. So any time we start to slip into cynicism or indifference—we just have to remember Jed Bartlet’s White House. A place where there are big blocks of cheese and where everyone belongs. Where you do good. That’s the story that The West Wing has shown the nation: This family we’re creating here, dedicated to a purpose greater than any one of us.”

Then Biden introduced Sheen, who gave a fiery speech that could have come from President Bartlett on the campaign trail, reading Rabindranath Tagore’s poem “Where the Mind Is Without Fear.” (The poem, written about India under British rule, ends with the line “Let my country wake up”—perhaps now also a call for citizens to stop sleeping on the challenge to democracy in the United States.)

Sorkin said his original plan to celebrate the 25th anniversary was to^D The West Wing anniversary was supposed to be just an email to Schlamm and a reflection on the past. Instead, with the help of Warner Bros. Television, the anniversary turned into a weeklong celebration — including a cast reunion at Sunday’s Emmy Awards.

“The idea behind ‘The West Wing’ from the beginning was that our elected leaders in popular culture are either Machiavellian or stupid,” he said. “I thought, what if they were as loyal and competent as the doctors and nurses on hospital shows, the cops on cop shows, the lawyers on David E. Kelley shows? Hopefully, from 9 to 10 p.m., we wanted to entertain you, force you to pay attention to whatever time we asked, and everything else was just a bonus.”

Only a handful of stars were in attendance at the White House event, including Allison Janney, Robert Lowe and Bradley Whitford, who were busy filming their own projects. “It seems like the rest of us are out of work,” Sorkin remarked. Biden quickly responded, “Not yet!”