Allison Janney Teases Reunion With ‘West Wing’ Co-Star Bradley Whitford on ‘The Diplomat’

The two starred on The West Wing for all seven seasons of the NBC political drama.

July 24, 2025, 8:30pm

Pictured: (l-r) Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, Allison Janney as Claudia Jean 'C.J.' Cregg — Photo by: Mike Ansell/NBCU Photo Bank

A West Wing reunion is coming to The Diplomat.

Allison Janney is reuniting with former co-star Bradley Whitford in the upcoming third season of the Netflix political thriller.

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The two starred on The West Wing for all seven seasons of the NBC political drama. Janney portrayed press secretary C.J. Cregg, while Whitford was Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff to John Spencer’s Leo McGarry and later, White House Chief of Staff to Jimmy Smits’ Matt Santos. Now on The Diplomat, Whitford will be portraying Todd Penn, the husband of Janney’s Vice President Grace Penn, who was sworn in as commander-in-chief following the death of Michael McKean’s President Rayburn.

Pictured: (l-r) Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, Allison Janney as Claudia Jean ‘C.J.’ Cregg — Photo by: Mitch Haddad/NBCU Photo Bank

“I knew it was going fantastic,” Janney told Variety. “I knew all of them who did not know him were in for a treat of their lives because he is not only an excellent human being, he is a wonderful actor. He is hilarious. He’s really, really funny. He makes the crew laugh. He keeps everyone happy on the set.”

“I don’t want to turn this into The West Wing reunion show, but getting to work with [Whitford] and Allison Janney, and seeing them getting to work with each other again after this many years, everybody’s like, ‘We’re doing something delicious,’” said showrunner Debora Cahn.

Pictured: (l-r) Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, Dule Hill as Charlie Young, Allison Janney as Claudida Jean ‘C.J.’ Cregg, John Spencer as Leo McGarry, Martin Sheen as President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlet, Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, Janel Maloney as Donna Moss, Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman — Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank

A premiere date for The Diplomat’s third season has not been announced, but Chan has confirmed that it is expected to drop this fall. While Season 3 has not yet released, the show has already been renewed for Season 4. Alongside Janney, The Diplomat stars Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, and Ato Essandoh. Cahn also created the drama and serves as executive producer alongside Russell, Janice Williams, and Simon Cellan Jones.

It’s unknown how many episodes Bradley Whitford will be appearing in, but it will probably be enough for fans of The West Wing to be happy. As Chan said, this is not going to be a West Wing reunion show, but when an opportunity like this comes up, they had to take it. More information surrounding The Diplomat’s third season should be announced in the coming weeks. For now, the first two seasons are streaming on Netflix. All episodes of The West Wing are streaming on HBO Max.