Aaron Sorkin Thinks About a 'West Wing' Revival 'a Couple of Seconds Every Day'

Aaron Sorkin thinks about reviving "The West Wing" for "a couple of seconds every day." He said so himself, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, and attached a condition to it: "it would be very, very tricky to do in the current environment."

That is the whole story so far — a creator's ambivalence, two co-stars' enthusiasm, and no deal, no network, no script. Sorkin's latest film, "The Social Reckoning," is the reason he is giving interviews at all.

The series ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006 and is widely regarded as one of the best television shows ever made. Martin Sheen played President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet. Allison Janney played press secretary C.J. Cregg. The cast also included Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, John Spencer as Leo McGarry, Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, Dulé Hill as Charlie Young and Stockard Channing as First Lady Abbey Bartlet.

Asked what Bartlet would make of current U.S. politics, Sorkin declined to improvise. "I'd like to take a little time before I put words in Jed Bartlet's mouth," he told EW. Then he offered one measured clue: "I don't think his reaction would be dissimilar to most of our reactions to what's going on right now."

Who else wants it back?

Two cast members have already committed on record. Whitford and Hill told Variety last month they would both sign on if Sorkin decided to bring the show back.

"I'll work him," Whitford said of Sorkin. "I think there could be a limited series of some kind."

Hill went further. "I think if he writes it, then we all will be there … It would be a lovely thing to hopefully steer the collective consciousness of our society back toward humanity and connectivity and understanding."

Hill's phrasing promises a lot for a show that does not exist. That gap — between what a revival is being asked to do and what anyone has agreed to make — is worth holding in view.

What does this change for viewers?

Nothing yet. No platform has been named. No writer's room has opened. Sorkin's own words place the odds low: a couple of seconds of daily thought against a "very, very tricky" political environment. What the statements do establish is that the creator misses the show, misses it enough to count the seconds, and that two original cast members would follow him if he moved first.

Why Sorkin is talking now

He is promoting "The Social Reckoning," a follow-up to 2010's "The Social Network," with Jeremy Strong playing Mark Zuckerberg. The timing matters. Revival talk attached to a press tour has a way of evaporating once the tour ends — though the cast's interest, at least, is on the record.

Sorkin said the prospect "would be fun" and "I miss it." If that sentiment survives the press cycle, the next signal to watch for is a credited writer, not a quote.