Aaron Sorkin thinks he may nonetheless make The West Wing right this moment, however there may be one political issue he thinks could be very completely different than when the sequence ran 25 years in the past: right this moment’s Republican Celebration.
At an occasion in help of the upcoming guide What’s Subsequent: A Backstage Go to The West Wing, Its Forged and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service in Los Angeles on Saturday, Sorkin acknowledged that he’s generally requested if the present would work within the current day.
“Actually, I believe it will for roughly the identical motive it labored when it did, which is that, to begin with, it was a great present, simply good tales nicely advised by a fantastic group of individuals,” he defined to the group on the Skirball Cultural Heart. “However by and huge, in standard tradition, our leaders are portrayed both as Machiavellian or as dolts, proper? It’s both a Home of Playing cards or Veep. The thought behind The West Wing was what in the event that they have been as competent and as devoted because the docs and nurses on hospital reveals, the cops on the cop reveals, the attorneys on a authorized drama, that type of factor. And the outcome was one thing that was idealistic and it was aspirational.”
He continued that he thought audiences would reply the identical method right this moment, however “what could be completely different could be this, and I don’t need to get a rumble began over something. That is merely what could be completely different. I’m afraid to say that proper now — and possibly issues can be completely different a yr from now or two years from now, however proper now — it will be implausible that the opposition social gathering, that the Republican Celebration, was cheap. Individuals would watch that and it will be unfamiliar to them because the nation that they stay in. On the present, whereas the Republicans have been the opposition, they have been cheap, the Republicans that they handled.”
The sequence, which starred Martin Sheen as Democratic President Jed Bartlet, ran from 1999 to 2006 and was created by Sorkin. He additionally wrote the foreword for What’s Subsequent, which was written by solid members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack. The writer duo was joined on the occasion by Sorkin and actors Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill and Janel Moloney, with Hrishikesh Hirway and Josh Malina as moderators. Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford additionally made temporary appearances through video.
“It’s very fascinating to learn the oral historical past and to learn different individuals’s takes on what was occurring. It actually introduced again reminiscences and it simply makes you need to preserve going,” Sorkin stated of the guide. “An enormous a part of the motivation in writing a brand new script each 9 days for this was having the ability to put one thing on the desk that these actors would love; they have been the primary viewers for the present.”
He added, “I proceed to be motivated by that. I need to write one thing else that they need to do,” as Malina teased that he already had audiences primed for a West Wing reboot on his social media channels. Sorkin replied, “Nonetheless have to have an concept.”