The Diplomat has been bringing political thrills to the Netflix schedule for two seasons now, earning several Emmy Award nominations in the process. The show got an additional boost with the announcement of Bradley Whitford’s casting, which sets up a reunion between him and Allison Janney. All of The West Wing fans who are now rushing to binge The Diplomat ahead of Season 3 should be good news for showrunner Debora Cahn, but I can understand why she wasn’t initially on board.
Keri Russell leads The Diplomat (available to stream with a Netflix subscription), with Allison Janney coming on in Season 2 as US Vice President Grace Penn. Her role will expand when Season 3 premieres on the 2025 TV schedule, and we’ll meet her husband Todd. When it came time to cast for that role, Debora Cahn told EW she initially bristled at the joke of making it a West Wing reunion, saying:
At first it was a joke, like, 'We should get Brad.’ My fear was I don't want the show to turn into a West Wing cover band.
Yeah, that’s a valid concern, with both shows being of a political nature and the beloved Aaron Sorkin creation considered one of the most rewatchable series of all time. You also wouldn’t want to cheapen the effect of The Diplomat with what some might consider stunt casting.
Thankfully, the showrunner’s concerns didn’t last long, as she said:
I got more confident that we could have the two of them in the same place and it would feel like something new. And giving them a relationship that's so different than the one that they've played in the past is really great. What's been most gratifying for me is that you become exposed to Grace Penn as a three-dimensional person.
Seeing Grace Penn interact with her husband will add a new layer to Allison Janney’s character, and because The Diplomat doesn’t feel anything like The West Wing — and Grace and Todd aren’t anything like C.J. Cregg and Josh Lymon — it turns out casting Bradley Whitford wasn’t as much of an issue as Debora Cahn thought it would be at first.
The characters may not be the same, but a first look at Bradley Whitford and Allison Janney together did have fans noting one similarity between Todd and Josh. And, while I completely see where the showrunner was coming from in being hesitant to reconnect two actors who are so well-known for a different series in the same genre, I am so glad that Debora Cahn ultimately chose to put them on screen together again.
I have a lot of faith in Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford to make The West Wing fans see past their former characters.
If you want to catch up before Season 3 begins, The Diplomat is available to stream on Netflix, while you can relive all of C.J. and Josh’s fun on The West Wing with an HBO Max subscription.
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