What’s Next by Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack: An Entirely Too-Brief Love Letter to The West Wing, The People Who Made It, and a Tribute to Public Service

What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service

by Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack

DETAILS:
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 608 pg. 
Read Date: June 1-27, 2026

What’s the Jacket-Flap Say about What’s Next?

A behind-the-scenes look into the creation and legacy of The West Wing as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, with compelling insights from cast and crew exploring what made the show what it was and how its impassioned commitment to service has made the series and relationships behind it endure.

Step back inside the world of President Jed Bartlet’s Oval Office with Fitzgerald and McCormack as they reunite the West Wing cast and crew in a lively and colorful “backstage pass” to the timeless series. This intimate, in-depth reflection reveals how The West Wing was conceived, and spotlights the army of people it took to produce it, the lifelong friendships it forged, and the service it inspired.

From cast member origin stories to the collective cathartic farewell on the show’s final night of filming, What’s Next will delight readers with on-set and off-camera anecdotes that even West Wing superfans have never heard. Meanwhile, a deeper analysis of the show’s legacy through American culture, service, government, and civic life underscores how the series envisaged an American politics of decency and honor, creating an aspirational White House beyond the bounds of fictional television.

What’s Next revisits beloved episodes with fresh, untold commentary; compiles poignant and hilarious stories from the show’s production; highlights initiatives supported by the cast, crew, and creators; and makes a powerful case for competent, empathetic leadership, hope, and optimism for whatever lies ahead.

It’s Not That Kind of Book

…the bad news: We will not be covering every single episode of The West Wing in this book. Or even every “iconic” one. Or even every so-called classic moment. There are not nearly enough pages in this book to dig down into all the hopeful-moving-dramatic-funny-romantic-bantery-big-block-of-cheese moments that were served up over seven seasons.

The fact that they took until page 206 to tell the reader that seems like it was too late. It was pretty clear—unless it was going to be very brief coverage of every episode.

Instead:

Finally, if you’re hoping to find within these pages genuinely sophisticated analyses of the nighttime basketball game from season 1 or the daytime hoops from that Camp David summit episode, we’re sorry to say it, but you’re out of luck. On the other hand, we won’t be going into Zoey dating that Jean-Paul guy, so there’s an upside too.

We’re happy for the trees saved by not having written a ten-thousand-page book, and we hope you’ll enjoy the upcoming deep dives into what we consider some stellar “key episodes.”

In lieu of that, the authors do recommend The West Wing Weekly podcast—which they drew a lot from throughout the book. It’s probably good that they didn’t, in a way, I (and many others) would’ve spent too long comparing their coverage to the podcast episodes.

Still, I’d have enjoyed it.

Tributes to Two Particular Stars

One of the longest chapters in the book was Thirty-Three, “Gone,” which covered the deaths of John Spencer and Leo McGarry. It was a fantastic tribute, featuring observations and stories from so many cast and crew about it. They also reprinted a couple of eulogies. Those cited in the chapter come close to hagiography—perhaps even indulge in it—but it’s hard to come away from that without a glimpse of the devotion that Spencer inspired in those that knew him and worked with him.

If you can read that chapter with dry eyes, well, as Mrs. Landingham would say, “I don’t even want to know you.”

Similarly, there’s a chapter devoted to singing Martin Sheen’s praises. It’s not nearly as emotionally hard-hitting, but just about as good.

Service Stories

Throughout the book, the authors talk about some of the ways that cast and crew volunteer for various causes and programs, help candidates campaign for office, and whatnot. Time after time, we read about them being inspired by something they learned about from someone on set. They go to pitch in with something that a coworker is working on, and then they become involved.

In addition to talking about the various causes they’re involved with, the reader is provided with links so they can donate/volunteer/learn more about them.

The show talks about the call to just show up. The authors try to provide opportunities to do so. It’s really a great combination.

So, what did I think about What’s Next?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the series straight through, and several individual episodes I’ve seen multiple other times. As I write this, Season 5 Episode 6, “Disaster Relief,” is on the other monitor. The Post-Sorkin Era is still getting on its feet and is benching Josh for Angela Blake—it’s a giant mistake (compounded by not keeping her around after this…ahhh, she’d have been fun to see after this). Yes, they make some delicious lemonade from this. But I’m going to stop talking about that now…I’m just saying that I’m exactly the kind of Wing-Nut they wrote this book for. *</span?

But boy, oh, boy, did it work for me. I cannot say enough good things about the book.

Do I wish we got a little more time on the “John Wells Administration”? Yes. We didn’t get the depth on the casting stories of the main characters that came in late. We didn’t get quite as many Key Episode features from that time. And so on.

But honestly, we didn’t get enough of those for the Sorkin years, either.

Honestly, I wanted at least another 400 pages.

Even at 600 pages, this book breezed by. I limited myself to 1-2 chapters a day just so I could relish the experience, and it moved too quickly for me.

Fans of the series should read this. People who aren’t as die-hard as some of us should probably give it a read—and then will find themselves rewatching it again—and likely turning to things like the podcast—because they’ve fallen further under the spell.

I can see myself coming back to this book—at least chapters and parts of chapters again soon. The index of organizations/causes in my copy should also get some use. The book is a thinly-disguised love-fest, and I was in all the way. You will be, too, if you’re at least a little bit interested in the idea.

* Then again, it took me almost two full years to read my pre-ordered copy.

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