‘West Wing’ Creator Aaron Sorkin Addresses Reboot Rumors
With reboot fever hitting Netflix and now network television, it was just a matter of time before someone asked West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin on microphone if he would consider bringing West Wing back to television. Initially, when NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt asked Sorkin the same question a while back, he essentially said not right now, but it seems maybe he has come around.
According to Vulture, Aaron Sorkin was a guest on the podcast, The West Wing Weekly, hosted by West Wing‘s own Joshua Malina and film composer Hrishikesh Hirway, and he was asked if West Wing might get a reboot. Malina and Hirway played a question from West Wing star Bradley Whitford for Sorkin.
“Would you ever consider bringing some characters back?”
Sorkin recalled that Greenblatt had asked him nine months prior, and he had been thinking that NBC was definitely on-board for a West Wing reboot.
“It was incredible, really, because it didn’t seem to be a commercial pitch that he was making. He was just so bummed out by the world.”
Sorkin said that Greenblatt had left the door open for what a West Wing reboot might look like.
“I want you to do The West Wing again in some form. You can do it for 9 episodes, 13 episodes. You do it with a different cast, the same cast.”
'West Wing' stars Martin Sheen, Elisabeth Moss and @JoshMalina talk about a possible reboot! https://t.co/y02sOfOSa7 pic.twitter.com/SZCnLlaLm7
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) April 20, 2018
At this time, West Wing is still running in its entirety on Netflix, and Sorkin admits it is still popular.
“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.”
Sorkin was then asked if he did a West Wing reboot, would he want to create a fictional Trump-like character, to which he firmly said no, Trump holds no appeal, said The Hollywood Reporter.
“Trump is exactly what he looks like: a really dumb guy with an observable psychiatric disorder.”
Aaron Sorkin Has A Specific Actor In Mind To Play The West Wing President
Instead, Sorkin says he would like to write about a black president for a new West Wing, and he has someone in mind, and a West Wing fantasy storyline.
“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.”
That West Wing reboot may actually be happening, according to Aaron Sorkin himself https://t.co/7EQ2QJPgTe pic.twitter.com/nVFmHtqBLq
— entertainment.ie (@entertainmentIE) April 24, 2018
Talk of a West Wing reboot is getting traction because a TMZ reporter caught up with West Wing star Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler), who said he’s not allowed to talk about it.
“I cannot confirm that at this time, no comment. I am not allowed to speak… No, top secret.”
West Wing ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006.
