Aaron Sorkin on making ‘The West Wing’ today: “It would be implausible to show Republicans as reasonable”

The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin has suggested how the show would be made differently in today’s political climate.

The classic political drama, which ran between 1999 and 2006, focuses on the fictitious administration of President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen).

Speaking at an event to promote new book What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service, Sorkin admitted that it would be “implausible” to make the Republican Party look “reasonable” today.

“Honestly, I think it would [work] for roughly the same reason it worked when it did, which is that, first of all, it was a good show, just good stories well told by a great group of people,” he said (via The Hollywood Reporter).

“But by and large, in popular culture, our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or as dolts, right? It’s either a House of Cards or Veep.

“The idea behind The West Wing was what if they were as competent and as dedicated as the doctors and nurses on hospital shows, the cops on the cop shows, the lawyers on a legal drama? That kind of thing. And the result was something that was idealistic and it was aspirational,” he explained.

“What would be different [today] would be this, and I don’t want to get a rumble started over anything. This is simply what would be different.

“I’m afraid to say that right now — and maybe things will be different a year from now or two years from now, but right now — it would be implausible that the opposition party, that the Republican Party, was reasonable,” Sorkin continued.

“People would watch that and it would be unfamiliar to them as the country that they live in. On the show, while the Republicans were the opposition, they were reasonable, the Republicans that they dealt with.”

Last month, Sorkin endorsed Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris for President following incumbent Joe Biden’s announcement that he was dropping out of the 2024 race.

It came after the writer published an open-ed in The New York Times before Biden announced he was suspending his campaign, in which he suggested Republican Mitt Romney should be the Democratic nominee.

Sorkin later said: “I take it all back. Harris for America!”

Meanwhile, earlier this year Sorkin revealed he was working on a follow-up to his 2010 film The Social Network focused on the January 6 riots.

“I’ll be writing about this. I blame Facebook for January 6,” he told The Town podcast. “You’re going to need to buy a movie ticket.”

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