Veep was one of the most beloved comedies that many say ended at just the right time, but the allure of more always remains. And its star says not only has the group behind the HBO comedy “talked about” a revival, the current political landscape may actually make it more likely in the coming years.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played the show’s titular character, Selena Meyer, appeared on The New Abnormal podcast with Veep showrunner Dave Mandel to talk about Veep as well as the state of actual politics in America. Louis-Dreyfus has not hidden her preference for political parties, making an appearance at this summer’s virtual Democratic National Convention and helping organize a Veep reunion of sorts that doubled as a Democratic fundraiser.
Despite all the fun they had doing that, a real Veep revival would be something else entirely. But it’s apparently not out of the question just yet. According to the Daily Beast, a reunion has been discussed, but it’s far from officially in the works right now.
“We’ve certainly discussed it,” star Julia-Louis Dreyfus tells Molly Jong-Fast on the latest episode of The New Abnormal. “Everybody’s sort of gone off now, and everybody’s doing other projects and so on. But I don’t rule it out entirely, doing some sort of Veep-related thing. I mean, there’s an area that we could jump back into. I think [showrunner] Dave [Mandel] and I have talked about it.”
Interestingly, Louis-Dreyfus noted that the incoming Biden administration would actually make it more likely we see Veep revived. Much like how Black Mirror‘s showrunners know too much real-life dystopia makes on-screen dystopia less palatable, people need less political chaos in their lives in order to enjoy fictional political satire.
Now, Dreyfus says, “There’s always an opportunity for satire and we’re hopeful that with the Biden administration, you know, things will sort of settle down, and then we can be the outrageous ones.”
“Yeah. It requires a baseline of normalcy.” Mandel says. “And if we can get back to that, if we can get back to a time where you’re not thinking about the president every six minutes, I think maybe we can get back to some good old fashioned political satire. But [the Trumpists] made it difficult. They raise the bar on stupidity on a daily basis. So it was very hard to out-stupid. You know what I mean?”
It has been fascinating to see comedians try to do political humor in the Trump age, which often was a true struggle for everything from Saturday Night Live to stand-ups. Maybe things will get easier for everyone, even comedy writers, come mid-January. And eventually it might mean more Veep, if things settle down a little bit, that is.
[via The Daily Beast]
