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William Bailey | |
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The West Wing character | |
![]() Joshua Malina as Will Bailey | |
First appearance | "Game On" |
Last appearance | "Tomorrow" |
Created by | Aaron Sorkin and Paul Redford |
Portrayed by | Joshua Malina |
In-universe information | |
Nickname | Will |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Wilde Campaign Manager (Season 4) Deputy White House Communications Director (Seasons 4-5) Chief of Staff to the Vice President (Seasons 5-6, briefly 7) Russell Campaign Manager (Season 6) White House Communications Director and Press Secretary (Season 7) U.S. Congressman (D-OR 4th) (Season 7, set 3 years later) |
Family | Tom Bailey (father) Elsie Snuffin (stepsister) |
Nationality | American |
William Bailey is a fictional character played by Joshua Malina on the television serial drama The West Wing . [1] He holds a series of posts in the White House Office of Communications, the Office of the Vice President, and as a backbencher Congressman (as seen in Season 7, Episode 1). The character was introduced after Rob Lowe, who played Sam Seaborn, left the show.
Will grew up in Belgium, where his father, General Thomas Bailey, served as the NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and in whose ideological footsteps he seems to follow, while making a name for himself with quiet resolve. Will is an Air Force reservist, a commitment that President Josiah Bartlet applauds, serving in the JAG Corps. In the episode "Guns Not Butter," Will says he is an Eton valedictorian. (This is a factual error, as the title does not exist in Britain). He may have attended Carnegie Mellon University, as he wore a Carnegie Mellon shirt while jogging at Camp David. He attended the University of Cambridge, England, as he said he was "President of Cambridge Union Society" and on a Marshall Scholarship. He also owns a mug featuring the coats of arms of Cambridge colleges and a framed diploma with the University's coat of arms hangs on his office wall in Season Seven. Will entered politics as a campaign speechwriter on two congressional races: the 2002 Horton Wilde campaign (see below), and a 1994 congressional race in Oregon's 4th congressional district, in which Will's candidate, Chulo (D), lost by fifteen points to Congressman John Heffinger (R). [2]
Will is originally introduced as the manager of the Horton Wilde campaign to represent California's 47th congressional district, and he gains recognition for forcing a run-off election despite Wilde's death. Sam Seaborn arrives to tell him to shut down the "embarrassing campaign," but Will defies him and Sam is won over by his efforts despite the seat's traditional status as safely Republican in the conservative Orange County. [3] Sam later runs in Wilde's place in a special election while recommending that Will to replace him as Deputy White House Communications Director with a note to Toby Ziegler that reads: "Toby — He's one of us." Will ghostwrites an acclaimed speech that California Governor Gabriel Tillman gives at the Stanford Club, which is what brings his writing skills to Sam's attention, although Toby is more critical of the speech. Toby, after first meeting him, characterizes Will as "deeply schooled in Eastern philosophy," but is won over by a five-hundred-word "test essay" about America's future foreign policy needs.
When Will moves into Sam's old office for a three-week temporary contract to help with Bartlet's second inaugural address, he endures hazing by White House staff that includes "Seaborn For Congress" posters plastered on the walls and bicycles stored in his office. CJ Cregg regularly put olives in his pockets and at one point places a goat in his office. Will eventually wins everyone over, and Bartlet eventually appoints him to replace Sam as Deputy White House Communications Director, although all the staff writers quit afterwards in protest and he has to turn for help from to a group of young female interns and his step-sister Elsie Snuffin.
Will leaves President Bartlet's staff soon after the appointment of Representative Bob Russell (D-CO) as Vice President of the United States, when he accepts Russell's offer to become his chief of staff. The main reasons for his move to Russell's office are Toby's gruff attitude as his direct superior and a belief that Toby's tendency to personally take charge of challenges for the Communications Office will result in zero potential for Will's advancement. Bob Russell's offer, in contrast, comes with the explicit challenge to prepare the Vice President for a presidential campaign in 2006. Despite his initial distaste for Russell, Will agrees to run the Russell presidential campaign because, as a die-hard Democrat, Will sees the V.P. as the presumptive nominee in the general election, and wants to get an early start grooming Russell for the Oval Office. However, in the episode "365 Days," Will secretly admits to Leo McGarry that he has doubts about his choice of candidate, and has been backing him so vigorously only because he has been accepting on faith that Bartlet and McGarry must have had noble reasons for selecting Russell as Vice President.
When Leo McGarry is unable to serve as Chief of Staff following his heart attack at Camp David, White House reporter Greg Brock suggests that Will might be appointed as Bartlet's new Chief of Staff. This is due to a rare meeting between Bartlet and Will about NATO peacekeeping, Will's experience with the military, and his proven ability to "manage up", qualities that perhaps make him a better choice for the role than Josh or Toby. However, C.J. Cregg is chosen for the job and Will remains Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for Vice President Russell.
When Russell loses the Democratic nomination to U.S. Rep. Matt Santos (D-TX), Bailey remains on Russell's staff until White House Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg "dragoons" him on very short notice to become White House Communications Director after the firing of Toby Ziegler for his role in the military space shuttle leak. Since Toby has also been serving as de facto White House Press Secretary, Will also inherits that role.
In the seventh season, Will dates Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper, with whom he had clashed over Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. The affair begins when she asks him to Ellie Bartlet's wedding, but their first real date is in "Running Mates". Their relationship is touched on again in "The Cold", where they seem awkward together. [4]
On Election Day, with the Bartlet Administration soon to be replaced, Will reveals that he is considering a return to election campaigning, citing a job offer to run a Californian mayoral contest. This would mean leaving Washington, D.C. and cause problems for his relationship with Kate. In the penultimate episode Institutional Memory, Will considers taking a job as the Chief Executive of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, but becomes preoccupied with the task of finding a candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Congressman John Heffinger in the Oregon 4th in 2008. Kate realizes that Will would make the perfect candidate, and insists that he move to Oregon in time to gain residency status and run for the seat, a move also encouraged by Bartlet.
By the time of the dedication of the Bartlet Presidential Library in New Hampshire three years later, Will is a Congressman representing the Oregon 4th and sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He describes himself as a "back bencher who may have a shot at chairman in thirty-two years." It is not revealed what happens in his relationship with Kate. [5]
Will Bailey is portrayed by Joshua Malina, an actor who at that time had appeared in every work (both on stage and on screen) written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin (although he did not appear in Sorkin's TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and other subsequent Sorkin productions). After the series spent much of Will's screen time establishing his struggle to fit in with the rest of Bartlet's staff, his decision to leave the staff in favor of working for Russell again establishes him as an outsider, while his later decision to pour his considerable political acumen into running Russell's presidential campaign frequently puts him at odds with several of the more familiar characters, most notably Josh Lyman, who runs the Santos presidential campaign, and Toby Ziegler, who points out (in the episode "365 Days") that Toby and Will used to make fun of Russell together.
The Josh/Will conflict is an example of a theme that runs throughout the series, i.e., the contrast between different approaches to politics, idealistic (Josh backs a long-shot candidate because he believes in the candidate's noble character) versus practical (Will backs a candidate he is unsure of because he thinks Russell has the better chance of winning the race). Placing Will on the side of compromise and practicality contrasts sharply with his earlier idealism, when the character was introduced running a campaign for a deceased Democrat in a traditionally Republican district, and defending his actions as "a campaign of ideas."
Will's career trajectory bears a number of similarities to that of Eli Attie, a writer and producer of the series and one of the architects of the character's storyline. Like Bailey, Attie had been a Presidential speechwriter and communications aide who left President Bill Clinton's staff to take a higher-ranking job with Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Al Gore.[ citation needed ]
The West Wing is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where the Oval Office and offices of presidential senior personnel are located, during the fictitious Democratic administration of President Josiah Bartlet.
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character from the American television serial drama The West Wing created by Aaron Sorkin and portrayed by actor Martin Sheen. The role earned Sheen a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2001, as well as two SAG Awards.
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character of the NBC political drama series The West Wing, portrayed by American actor John Spencer.
Samuel Norman Seaborn is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing. From the beginning of the series in 1999 until the middle of the fourth season in 2003, he is deputy White House Communications Director in the administration of President Josiah Bartlet played by Martin Sheen. The character departed from subsequent seasons after Lowe decided to leave the series, although he returned for several episodes in the final season when he became Deputy Chief of Staff to the new president portrayed by Jimmy Smits.
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series The West Wing. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the series, he is White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Political Advisor in the Josiah Bartlet administration.
Tobias "Toby" ZacharyZiegler was a fictional character in the television serial drama The West Wing, played by Richard Schiff. The role of Toby Ziegler earned actor Richard Schiff the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2000. For most of the series' duration, he was White House Communications Director. In the final season, Ziegler was involved in a storyline around a leak of classified information, which The New York Times compared to the leak investigation of the Valerie Plame affair.
Charles Young is a fictional character played by Dulé Hill on the television serial drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he is the Personal Aide to President Josiah Bartlet.
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"Hartsfield's Landing" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of The West Wing, an American serial political drama. The episode aired on February 27, 2002, on NBC. The episode takes its title from the fictional bellwether town that is central to the episode, which is holding an election that Josh Lyman wants to win for the president. "Hartsfield's Landing" also includes Toby Ziegler and Sam Seaborn playing chess matches against President Jed Bartlet, and C. J. Cregg involving herself in a prank war against Charlie Young. Allison Janney, who portrayed C. J., described the episode as one of her favorites. In 2020, the episode was reprised by the original cast in A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote.
"Game On" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of The West Wing. The episode aired on October 30, 2002, on NBC. The episode features Josiah Bartlet, the President of the United States, debating against his opponent in the upcoming presidential election, as well as Sam Seaborn meeting the new character of Will Bailey and Leo McGarry attempting to stop the shipment of arms to a terrorist group. Reception for the episode was mixed, with differing viewpoints on how the show portrayed the dueling ideologies of liberalism and conservatism in the United States.
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The second season of the American political drama television series The West Wing aired in the United States on NBC from October 4, 2000 to May 16, 2001 and consisted of 22 episodes.
The fourth season of the American political drama television series The West Wing aired in the United States on NBC from September 25, 2002 to May 14, 2003 and consisted of 23 episodes.
"A Proportional Response" is the third episode of the first season of The West Wing, an American serial television drama. The episode aired on October 6, 1999 on NBC. The episode centers around the continuation of a storyline introduced in the previous episode, in which a plane carrying a new friend of President Bartlet was attacked by the Syrian government. The episode also sees the introduction of Dulé Hill as Charlie Young, and an argument between C. J. Cregg and Sam Seaborn over Sam's decision to befriend a call girl.
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