Sometimes, when an actor revisits a famous character, one wants to shake them by the shoulders and say, “Let it die!” There’s an inherent cringe factor in trying to revive a once-popular product, made worse by aging actors trying to recapture old glory. But let’s be clear: none of this criticism applies to Julia Louis-Dreyfus or any of her famous characters.
If JLD, in her genius and wisdom, wants to play Selina Meyer again, then she will always be welcome. But JLD, in her genius and wisdom, thinks that real-life politics needs to chill out before she will consider returning to Veep; she tells Variety there needs to be “multiple years of normalcy in Washington before we could revisit something.” Asked specifically how the lauded HBO series would satirize an event like the January 6 insurrection, she says, “I don’t know how we could. … I don’t know how to make that funny, especially when people lost their lives.”
Veep may have (purposely) pushed the limits of political correctness, but Louis-Dreyfus is conscientious about pushing the limits too far. “It’s tricky. I’m in favor of sensitivity,” she explains to the outlet. “When people complain about being too politically correct, I start to question what their motives are. I believe in irony and satire—there must be a place for it for a culture to survive—but I also believe in being sensitive and kind at the same time.”
As awful as the characters on Veep regularly are, many Washington insiders have said that their political actions were, in fact, quite correct. Even real-life veep Kamala Harris thinks so. “It was incredible,” Louis-Dreyfus said of Harris professing her love of the comedy. “Her husband, the first gentleman, and she told me they love Veep, and that it’s more like D.C. than anyone would care to admit.”