Be still, my liberal heart. The cast of The West Wing is reuniting after 17 years for a one-off special on HBO Max later this year.
Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, and Janel Moloney, along with The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, will all come together for a special theatrical stage presentation of the season three episode “Hartsfield’s Landing”.
The episode — which sees Josh (Whitford) obsess over the voting results in a small New Hampshire town — is an apt choice given the reason for this reunion. The special serves as a voter awareness campaign benefiting Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote non-profit, with the goal of increasing participation in the upcoming 2020 election.
Obama herself will deliver a “special message” during the special. “Additional cast members and special guests from the worlds of public service and the arts” are also being promised.
While the special is billed as a one-off, Sorkin has kept the door open for a possible revival of the show. Back in 2017, Sorkin revealed that he had preliminary framework for a new version of The West Wing featuring Sterling K. Brown as president. “There’s some kind of jam, an emergency, a very delicate situation involving the threat of war or something, and [President] Bartlet (Sheen), long since retired, is consulted in the way that Bill Clinton used to consult with Nixon.” At the time, Sorkin said his sticking point was how to incorporate other fan favorite characters, such as C.J. (Janney) and Josh Lyman.
