Aaron Sorkin Might be Open to ‘West Wing’ Reboot

Aaron Sorkin wants to revisit The West Wing, but only if he can find the right idea.

The West Wing creator sat down for a live taping of The West Wing Weekly podcast, hosted by series alum Joshua Malina and film composer Hrishikesh Hirway, and heard a message from series star Bradley Whitford, who asked, “Would you ever consider bringing some characters back?”

First reported by Vulture, Sorkin shared that he had a conversation with NBC boss Bob Greenblatt that made it seem as though they were interested in a revival for more than the ratings.

“It was incredible, really, because it didn’t seem to be a commercial pitch that he was making,” Sorkin said, referring to Greenblatt. “He was just so bummed out by the world.”

However, the NBC chair told Sorkin the reboot would only happen under the creator’s terms.

“I want you to do The West Wing again in some form,” Sorkin recalls him saying. “You can do it for nine episodes, 13 episodes. You do it with a different cast, the same cast.” Sorkin concluded, “Incredibly, the show has a legacy. The last thing I would want to do is harm that, so if I can come up with an idea that doesn’t feel like A Very Brady Christmas, if I can come up with an idea that works, then yeah.”

The original series ended its run in 2006, and while many of its stars have gone on to work on other successful series, many have already claimed they wouldn’t hesitate to return for a revival.

“Well, it’s still running on Netflix, so I think it’s holding up quite well,” Martin Sheen, who played President Jed Bartlet, said during an interview at We Day when asked about the show’s lasting popularity. “It has a lot to teach us in today’s situation, that we could not have anticipated before, so I think it’s still very powerful.”

“I think I’m a little old for the White House at this point,” Martin joked. “[But] I still got the energy.”

Elisabeth Moss, now of Handmaid’s Tale fame, said she’d love to come back and reprise her role as daughter of the president, Zoey Bartlet.

“Are you kidding? I’d be in!” Moss told Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s second season. “That’s where I got my start. They just gotta call me.”

Whitford said in April that 2018 would be the perfect time for the show to make a comeback.

“People have been saying, ‘Oh you should bring it back.’ I always say you want to go before your banana turns brown, and that’s great life advice,” he said.

“There’s been a wave of successful reboots, which, economically, makes sense because the world is so fractured and these things have a built-in audience,” Whitford added.

The idea of a reboot was first teased when Sorkin said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he imagines This Is Us actor Sterling K. Brown would be his choice for the president upon the show’s return.

“Sterling K. Brown as the president, and there’s some kind of jam, an emergency, a very delicate situation involving the threat of war or something, and [President] Bartlet [played by Martin Sheen], long since retired, is consulted in the way that Bill Clinton used to consult with Nixon,” Sorkin said when pitching the idea.

Upon hearing the news, Brown personally reached out to Sorkin on Twitter and wrote, “#AaronSorkin if you are serious, sir, I would be honored!”

While there has been plenty of discussion in interviews, neither Sorkin nor the show’s original home NBC has confirmed such a reboot has been given the green light just yet.