‘The West Wing’ Planning Return to Netflix US Five Years After Removal

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The West Wing Returning To Netflix

Picture Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Another fan-favorite series is being licensed back to Netflix. Following in the footsteps of Spartacus and Nurse Jackie, which both departed five years ago, The West Wing, we understand, is set to make its return to the streamer in mid-December 2025, with a currently planned December 9th return. 

Requiring very little introduction, The West Wing is probably one of NBC’s defining dramas for much of the 2000s. It ran for seven seasons and 154 episodes, with the series chronicling the triumphs and travails of White House senior staff under the administration of President Josiah Bartlet. 

The series paved the way for many shows to follow in its footsteps and launched or raised the careers of the likes of Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, and Allison Janney, who shared a scene with Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Moira Kelly, Martin Sheen, and John Spencer.

As mentioned, this show is returning to the United States after five years, having previously streamed for an extended period throughout much of the 2010s, until its departure in December 2020. At the time, it was one of the major removals from Netflix US, used as one of the many launch titles for HBO Max, which has streamed the series ever since. The Netflix addition is not expected to impact its availability on HBO Max. 

Of course, Netflix has another tie to The West Wing, given that its political series, The Diplomat (currently gearing up to shoot season 4), is helmed by Debora Cahn, who served as a staff writer on the show for many years. A number of The West Wing alums have even come to feature in the Netflix show. 

This is one of several Warner Bros. Television (they own the underlying rights to the show, not NBC Universal) pickups we understand will be coming to Netflix in the coming months. However, Netflix declined to comment on others we believe are also on the way and on The West Wing returning. 

It comes as Netflix US licensed several HBO titles throughout 2023 and 2024, although they’ve been slowly bleeding off Netflix as of late

Hat tip to our friends at Netflix Portal for the assist on this one. Our understanding is that the date may shift on this, so we’ll keep you posted should anything change. 

Are you looking forward to streaming The West Wing again on Netflix? Let us know down below. For more on what’s coming to Netflix in December 2025, keep it locked here on What’s on Netflix. 

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Written by

Kasey Moore is the founder and editor-in-chief of What's on Netflix, the leading independent resource covering Netflix with over a decade of hands-on experience tracking Netflix’s new releases, removals, and breaking news. His reporting and data insights have been featured in leading publications including Variety, THR, Bloomberg, and Business Insider.

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 PosterRating: TV-MA
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Cast: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi
Season Additions:
  • Season 3 was added to Netflix on October 16th, 2025
  • Season 2 was added to Netflix on October 31st, 2024
  • Season 1 was added to Netflix on April 20th, 2023

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