The Bartlet administration obtained again collectively for one evening solely.
A number of members of The West Wing forged reunited onstage on the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15. The nostalgic second was timed to the twenty fifth anniversary of the present’s 1999 premiere.
The reunion noticed Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Dulé Hill and Richard Schiff taking the stage collectively to current the award for excellent drama collection.
Hill, 49, began off by saying he and his castmates “all had the consideration serving your administration” on the collection.
“In the present day, the place storylines will be plucked proper off the information, storylines that writers would have deemed a bit far-fetched, if not totally ridiculous, 25 years in the past,” Schiff, 69, added.
Moloney, 54, used the chance to encourage the viewers to interact politically.
“Our political panorama has shifted dramatically lately, however two issues haven’t modified: the significance of everybody ensuring to be registered and to vote,” she mentioned.
“And the standard of the drama collection on tv,” Sheen, 84, chimed in.
Bradley Whitford shared why he wasn’t ready to participate within the reunion, tweeting, “It breaks my coronary heart not to have the ability to be with my West Wing household on the Emmys tonight or on the White Home later this week to have fun our twenty fifth birthday, however I’m in Budapest on one other White Home set pretending to work for an additional administration. (I do know. I have to work on my vary.)”
“I’m pondering of our unimaginable crew. Of the a whole bunch of individuals you by no means noticed who made this occur.
I’m pondering of Aaron. Of the miracle of a superb author sitting in a room and having an concept that made all of this doable,” he added. “And I’m pondering of John Spencer. Of how a lot wemiss him. Of what a kick he would have gotten out of tonight.”
He concluded, “The farther away from the present I get,the extra grateful I’m to have been part of it. I’m happy with its ongoing legacy that celebrates hope and public service in a world that may now not afford cynicism and despair.So what’s subsequent? To have fun our anniversary, I hope you’ll test your voter registration and make a plan to vote!!!”
The Emmys aren’t the primary time The West Wing forged have gotten the gang again collectively. In 2020, Sheen, Janney, Moloney, Hill, Smits, Schiff, Whitford and Rob Lowe reunited for A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote to encourage viewers to vote within the 2020 election. The particular episode streamed on Max (then referred to as HBO Max).
On the time, Lowe, 60, instructed PEOPLE, “When the cameras rolled, and it was simply Martin Sheen and I sitting down as Sam and President Bartlet, it felt prefer it was yesterday, and everyone was pretty much as good as I remembered them. It was like an excellent, traditional rock band that hadn’t misplaced a step.”
Through the years, The West Wing forged has continued to assist one another, and in March, Janney even revealed to PEOPLE that they still have a group chat.
“Yeah, there’s a giant textual content chain with all of us on it,” Janney mentioned. “And there’s all the time a dialog happening, and it’s all the time hysterical between Brad Whitford and Josh [Malina]. They all the time spar and jab at one another, which is endlessly amusing to all of us.”
The Palm Royale star continued, “And we see Martin so much and exit to have lunch with him. We actually are a household and have stayed one.”
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Nevertheless, Janney has her doubts that The West Wing will ever be rebooted with its unique forged, regardless of her costar Malina, 58, placing the thought on the market as usually as he can.
“I all the time need it to be [true], and [costar] Josh Malina all the time places that on the market,” she shared, earlier than including that she would not consider collection creator Aaron Sorkin would revisit the Bartlet administration so a few years after the fictional president left workplace. “I don’t assume Aaron’s going to ever do this,” she mentioned. “If something, it must be a reboot with a complete new administration. Such a fairy story it ended up being. My God, that was a giant life-changer for me, being on that present.”
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See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards as they’re broadcasting reside on ABC from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.