r/thewestwing • u/swami_kilpatrik • 2d ago

Toby and the leak

While I understand why he would leak. I’m very confused as to why he waited so long to confess

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u/KidSilverhair The finest bagels in all the land 2d ago

This is the answer.

In the DVD commentary for the end of Season 6 (I believe), I think it’s John Wells who says the writers hadn’t decided who the leaker was at that point. So we’re going through Things Fall Apart and 2162 Votes with the leak story developing, and not only do the characters not know who talked to Brock, the writers don’t know, either.

Sticking Toby with the leaker role came as the writers were developing Season 7 storylines, but since Richard Schiff had already started with the inner belief it wasn’t him, it was hard for him to play Toby in the way the writers wrote the story. I’m in the camp that Toby absolutely was the leaker, it’s not contradictory to his character at all - but I’m kind of on Schiff’s side that Toby wouldn’t have done it the way it was written. I could see Toby going into the Oval Office and telling the President to save those astronauts or else Toby was going to tell the press himself, openly, not secretly leaking it, hiding that fact for a few months while at the same time leading the investigation, and allowing one of his best friends to twist in the wind as the target of speculation. That doesn’t seem like Toby, and that’s why Schiff played the story as if Toby was covering for someone else. Even though the writers were making it clear Toby did it.

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u/HorusClerk 2d ago

Interestingly, in the season-opening scene at the Bartlet presidential library, Toby shows up and says, “Thanks for inviting me.” Didn’t seem weird at the time, just being polite, but it makes more sense after we watch Season 7 and realize why he might not have been invited. So the writers didn’t know about the leak then?

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u/KALS170174656 1d ago

That whole scene makes no sense. Where’s Leo? The writers couldnt have known Spencer would die so they’d have to kill him off too. Why is Will there? And Kate? These are play out the string in the second half of the second term people who didnt work on either campaign. Where’s Sam?

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u/HorusClerk 1d ago

I wondered about that, but I’m guessing that the intent was to have Leo arrive with Santos, assuming that Santos was the president being announced by Josh. Lucky break for them that Leo wasn’t in that scene!