While Bradley Whitford and Allison Janney were shooting a scene for the new season of “The Diplomat,” the hectic Netflix drama of political intrigue, Whitford had a revelation.
“We have no range,” he told her.
Janney agreed with him. “We have been arguing in fake government buildings for over 20 years,” she said.
Janney, a seven-time Emmy winner, and Whitford, not so shabby with three, met in 1999, in an ersatz version of the White House’s Roosevelt Room. The occasion was a table read for “The West Wing,” the NBC political drama created by Aaron Sorkin. Janney played C.J. Cregg, the president’s press secretary; Whitford was Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff.
Cast as colleagues, they became friends and have remained so. After “The West Wing” ended in 2006, she guested on his NBC series, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” He guested on her CBS sitcom, “Mom.” But they had never had another chance to play opposite each other for long until “The Diplomat.”
Janney joined the show in Season 2, playing Grace Penn, a steely vice president unexpectedly elevated to the presidency. For Season 3, Debora Cahn, the creator of “The Diplomat” and a former writer on “The West Wing,” decided to add Todd Penn, Grace’s husband, to the scheme-heavy mix. She immediately thought of Whitford, then rejected the thought as silly.
“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Aaron Sorkin, but we’re not looking to be a tribute band,” she said of “The Diplomat” during a recent video call. “We want the show to have its own identity.”
Still, the thought persisted, and soon enough Whitford was on set. “It was [expletive] delicious,” Cahn said of watching him with Janney.
Janney thought so. “It makes my heart happy to be around him,” she said. She was sitting by Whitford’s side on a recent morning, in a conference room, a few weeks before the Oct. 16 premiere of Season 3 of “The Diplomat.” She had her feet up. He was slouching in a rumpled suit jacket. They looked the part — old friends, delighted that a volatile industry had brought them together again.
On the show, their relationship is uneasy and Todd, whose career has been derailed by financial malfeasance, is patently jealous of Grace. (At one point Todd introduces himself as, “an increasingly insignificant house husband married to a supernova.”) But during a scene in which they were arguing, Whitford found it difficult to find that rancor.
“Hopefully when you’re acting, you’re thinking thoughts that correspond to the scene,” he said. “I was just totally out of it, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I get to act with Allison again.’” He’ll have other chances: “The Diplomat” has already been renewed for a fourth season, and Janney and Whitford have been promoted to series regulars.
In an affectionate hourlong video chat, they discussed relationships, politics and how it feels to play their first sex scene. (Political shows make strange — and very funny — bedfellows.) These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
How would you describe Josh and C.J.’s relationship?
ALLISON JANNEY Combative. Loving.
BRADLEY WHITFORD Siblings.
JANNEY They’re on the same team. They’re working together. They love each other. They exhaust each other. It’s siblings. Siblings in the White House.
WHITFORD Actors’ lives are episodic, you’re in these very intense, short-lived relationships with people. “The West Wing” thing was so intense and really familial.
JANNEY We really spent more time with each other than I ever did with my family.
Did you keep in touch once the show ended?
JANNEY We have private texts, we also have a big “West Wing” group chain that we’re on. There’s some really funny texts in there, especially between [the actor Joshua Malina] and Brad. They have a notorious hate thing going on.
WHITFORD A mutual castigation competition.
Allison, you came on to “The Diplomat” in Season 2. When did you learn that Bradley would join as your husband?
JANNEY Debora texted me. She asked me how I would feel about that. I didn’t even have to think: I was, like, “Yes, that makes absolute sense. It would be the best casting ever.”
Did you worry that it would make “The Diplomat” feel, to use Debora’s words, like a “West Wing” tribute band?
JANNEY I didn’t. The relationship is different. We’re different. Maybe when first people hear the casting, they’re like, Oh my God. But then when they see the show, they won’t be thinking of C.J. and Josh.
There’s very little in the script about the Penn marriage. Did you have to have a conversation where you worked out their back story?
JANNEY I went with what was on the page. The back story that we have together was enough for me. The weight of a relationship that’s been there, that’s all I needed. I’m not a fan of back stories anyway. They don’t help me as an actor.
WHITFORD There is a freedom in that. It was really fun playing these scenes. Look, it’s a really challenging, interesting time to be in a show about a female American president.
JANNEY We filmed the scene where I was sworn in soon after the election results. It was one of the saddest, most moving days, everyone was sobbing as I was being sworn in.
Do they have a good marriage?
JANNEY Like any marriage that is a long marriage and is now complicated by these new power structures, it’s difficult. You want to be in it and work through it, but it’s not easy. I mean, hell, I’ve never been married before, but I’ve been in long-term relationships. There are a lot of compromises. It’s never 50-50. I think Grace loves being in this position. She knows it’s going to be difficult with him. She’s frustrated that he’s being a little pouty bitch, but these two really love each other. They can bicker and argue, but they’re there for each other.
WHITFORD [Deadpan] I have never personally struggled with relationships. I think they do have a good marriage. I loved how impossible he was, irritating her, trying to protect her. I found those things true of a balance in a relationship, especially under pressure where someone’s fulfillment professionally can make the other person insecure. I love his insecurity, because there’s a bite to him. This guy is snarky and wronged, tender and jealous. The contradictions are what make it fun.
What’s it like to play opposite each other now? What’s changed?
WHITFORD Well, the color of my hair.
JANNEY He keeps getting better looking. It’s annoying!
WHITFORD Men get celebrated. But it feels like home. It feels comfortable.
JANNEY Like putting on an old comfortable shirt.
Was this your first sex scene together?
JANNEY It was. I was so freaked out. I was like, I can’t believe I’m having sex with Brad. He’s like my brother. Not that he isn’t incredibly sexy. But it made me really nervous. I said, “Brad, you’ve got to help me with my stomach. My stomach’s not great.” And then he just made it fun. It didn’t turn out to be awkward at all. I was like, I could do this all day.
Were you disappointed that you weren’t in more scenes together?
WHITFORD Part of the problem was I was still working on [the Hulu series] “Handmaid’s Tale.”
JANNEY I was working on [the Apple TV+ series] “Palm Royale.”
WHITFORD We drove them nuts.
JANNEY Logistically, it was a nightmare. I was flying back and forth doing both shows, New York, L.A., New York, L.A.
Well, you’ll have more scenes in Season 4. What would you like to see?
JANNEY More messy things in both the personal relationship and the work, a perfect storm of crazy, crazy stuff happening on both sides of the bed and podium.
WHITFORD We have both been blessed beyond our wildest dreams by letting brilliant writers write. I’m not in the writers’ room going, “Here are my notes.”
But if you did have notes, what would you want for Todd?
WHITFORD An open marriage.
Alexis Soloski has written for The Times since 2006. As a culture reporter, she covers television, theater, movies, podcasts and new media.
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