PASADENA, Calif. — When John Spencer died, the producers of "The West Wing" considered every possibility of how to deal with the real-life passing of one of the show's stars. Including shutting down the show altogether.
"We spent a lot of time . . . trying to figure out how we would deal with it," said executive producer John Wells. "We had conversations about whether it was even appropriate to continue to do the show without John, frankly. He was such a close friend and a wonderful actor and such a central part of the ensemble and of our lives together as a group."
At the time of his death on Dec. 16, "West Wing" had completed production on five unaired episodes, including three in which Spencer appeared. Wells and his team had "a lot of conversations . . . about whether or not we should change those episodes, re-shoot things. And the conclusion we came to was — John was so wonderful in the episodes that the best homage we could make to his contribution to the show was to let people see the last days of his work.
"And if you knew John, I think he would have been (ticked) at me if we had actually changed it. Like, 'Wait, you're cutting my scenes, kid? What are you doing that for?' "
While he remains mum about who's going to win the upcoming presidential election — Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) or Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) — Wells made it clear that, like the man who played him, Leo McGarry (Spencer) will die. And just before the election.
"West Wing" returns March 12 with three episodes leading up to Election Day. The election itself will play out in a two-parter on April 2 and 9; three episodes will follow the transition to the new administration; following a one-hour retrospective, the May 14 series finale will surround the inauguration of the new president.
"The series has celebrated from the beginning in (creator/former executive producer) Aaron (Sorkin)'s conception, the remarkable strength of American democracy," Wells said. "And one of the things that's most dramatic about American democracy is the peaceful passing of power from one leader to another. And we thought that was a really wonderful way to sort of end the series."
It was a decision borne out of declining ratings (NBC moving the show to Sundays was the death knell), but, as it turns out, cast members say they feel like it's the appropriate way to bring the series to a close.
"He was the guy," Martin Sheen (President Josiah Bartlet) said simply.
"He was the guy saying, 'This is phenomenal — relish this.' He was always saying that to me," Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman) said.
Everyone in the cast nodded in agreement when Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg) said, "It's incredibly hard" to deal with the passing of a man "who meant so much . . . to all of us. He was so generous with all of our work. He was so supportive of us. And to be on that set without him — I walk on every day since his death and feel a great loss.
"And it feels like a very organic ending to the show with him gone because I just can't imagine doing it without him. He was one of the most important parts of the show for all of us on so many different levels."
Who will succeed President Bartlet may or may not be affected by the death of Leo, who was Santos' running mate.
"John's passing happened at a point where we had thought we had made a decision in how to go, and it affected it in the sense that it changed a lot of the storytelling," Wells said.
And they're in unfamiliar territory. Although the Democrats replaced their vice-presidential candidate in 1972 (Sargent Shriver in; Thomas Eagleton out), that happened three months before the election. And there's nothing in the Constitution about dealing with the death of a v.p. candidate as voting is about to begin.
"All the people that we talked to said the wisest thing for a candidate to do would probably be to either indicate who they want to replace him or to just go silent," Wells said. "If they lose, it's not an issue. If they're elected, it makes the most sense to wait until the inaugural and then try to get a candidate nominated and then through Congress under the 25th Amendment. . . . It makes for — I think — some compelling drama on the show."
But that was probably the least of the writers' problems.
"We're dealing with the death of a character that we loved after having dealt with the death of a man that we loved. And it's a complicated and difficult time for us," Wells said.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com