EXCLUSIVE: How is this for meta casting — Bradley Whitford has been tapped for a recurring role opposite his former The West Wing co-star Allison Janney on the Netflix political thriller drama series The Diplomat, Deadline has learned. What’s more, the two West Wing-ers are headed back to the White House, with Whitford playing the First Gentleman to Janney’s President on the show created and executive produced by The West Wing alumna Debora Cahn, I hear. A rep for Netflix declined comment.
On The West Wing, Whitford and Janney’s characters Josh Lyman and C.J. Cregg kept it professional, working alongside each other as Deputy Chief of Staff and Press Secretary, respectively, for most of the show’s seven-season run. They were frequent sparring partners though and, with former West Wing writer Cahn at the helm, The Diplomat could give fans a taste of their signature banter.
Season 3 of The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, picks up after the shocking Season 2 cliffhanger, which saw the President suddenly die, with Janney’s VP Grace Penn taking his place. The new season is currently in production in and around New York.
Both Whitford and Janney earned Emmys for their work on The West Wing; Whitford also won Emmys for The Handmaid’s Tale, whose sixth and final season he is currently filming, and Transparent.
Whitford, who recently wrapped production on the Netflix limited series Death by Lightning opposite Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen, will next be seen in the independent romantic comedy, For Worse, which he produces and co-stars in with wife Amy Landecker. The film will debut at SXSW. Whitford is repped by Greenlight Management, Gersh and Peikoff Mahan Law.
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