'West Wing' alums give 'backstage pass' to beloved drama in new book

A pair of actors from "The West Wing" say rewatching the show these days — amid the hyperpolarized political climate — can be an emotional experience.

"It's sadness tinged with hope," said Mary McCormack, who played deputy national security adviser Kate Harper on the long-running NBC political drama.

“I feel like America course-corrects. In the past, we have. We've gotten off course before, and hopefully our goodness and our Constitution and our love of democracy will course-correct us. So I feel hopeful when I watch it today, but there's been months where I watch it and it's more sad," McCormack said. 

"It brings me hope, and I am a hopeful person at heart," Melissa Fitzgerald, who played press secretary assistant Carol Fitzpatrick in the Aaron Sorkin-created series, said.

Now the pair of performers is teaming up, for a project aimed at "Wingnuts," or "West Wing" junkies.

"What's Next: A Backstage Pass to 'The West Wing,' its Cast and Crew, and its Enduring Legacy of Service" is set to be released on Aug. 13, timed to the 25th anniversary of the show, which ran from 1999 to 2006.

The actors embarked on writing the book in 2019, after getting Sorkin's blessing. But after conducting more than 100 interviews with cast and crew members, along with some high-profile "West Wing" devotees including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the effort grew to a whopping 575-plus pages. 

McCormack said the two quickly realized the pressure was on: "We really went, 'Oh my god — we're doing 'The West Wing' book. We can't mess up!'"

The book includes behind-the-scenes cast moments, photos and anecdotes from specific episodes of the show and real-life political encounters, such as the time McCormack met one "West Wing" super fan while filming on location in New Mexico for another production. The "Private Parts" star had heard that then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama would be in town for a campaign rally just days before the election. Pen in hand hoping he would sign a poster for her, McCormack headed to the rally before coming face to face with Obama.

"He went, 'Oh my God, you're the national security adviser!'" she said of his reaction.

"I was like, 'I'm actually not, but you're about to become the leader of the free world!'" she remembered with a laugh.

McCormack later learned from an Obama insider that just ahead of meeting him, the soon-to-be president had watched "The West Wing" episode "Kate Harper's plan of peace in the Middle East."

"So it was obviously fresh in his mind," McCormack said. Her meeting with Obama was captured in snapshots taken by the actor's husband, which are featured in the book.

Buttigieg, in an interview for "What's Next," said the show was "really meaningful" for him when he was younger and considering public service.

“The portrayal of people who are very, very capable, and yet are struggling every day because the things they're trying to do are so very hard ... was certainly inspiring for me in trying to figure out what to do with my life at about that age when 'The West Wing' landed," Buttigieg told the authors. 

While in a recent New York Times op-ed Sorkin noted some of the similarities between "West Wing" plotlines and the whirlwind 2024 White House race — including an assassination attempt against President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, and another episode in which the show's commander in chief was facing questions about running for reelection after a serious illness came to light — McCormack said today's politics more resemble HBO's "Veep" than her former show. 

Much of "The West Wing" cast reunited for fundraisers for Democrats during the 2020 presidential election. A reunion special on HBO Max that same year promoted voter registration efforts.

McCormack indicated that Vice President Harris has her full support.

"I will do anything I can to back Harris's campaign," she said.

For Fitzgerald, the director of strategic engagement at the justice reform advocacy group All Rise, the book offered an opportunity to showcase the "service stories" from the Washington drama's cast and crew — and highlight specific organizations and causes they support.

Sorkin has been noncommittal about the possibility of a "West Wing" reboot one day, but asked whether they would be game if he were on board, Fitzgerald and McCormack both expressed enthusiasm. 

"It's hard for me to get to do really meaningful work," McCormack, 55, said. "I love acting and I like storytelling. I'm proud of so much of the work I've done, but it's rare to get something like 'The West Wing.'"

"It was the perfect storm of great stuff for an actor," she said, noting that much of the cast still communicates via a nearly daily text message chain.

"We're all getting a little old here," Fitzgerald quipped of a potential reimagining of the show, quoting her fellow former castmate Janel Moloney: "Instead of a walk and talk, it'll have to be a walker and talk."

But, she quickly added of the experience, "It was magical."