How HBO's Veep season 6 comments on President Donald Trump

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This was published 6 years ago

How HBO's Veep season 6 comments on President Donald Trump

By Patrick Ryan
Updated

Selina Meyer is out of the White House, but she's no less off-colour.

When HBO's multi-Emmy-winning Veep returns to US screens on Sunday (Monday AEST), Julia Louis-Dreyfus' caustic, incompetent ex-commander-in-chief is still reeling from an unprecedented election tie, which booted her from the Oval Office less than a year into her term. The razor-sharp satire picks up a year after last season's shocking twist, as Selina and what's left of her team attempt to polish her legacy and navigate politics outside of Washington.

Executive producer David Mandel, who replaced series creator Armando Iannucci last year, talks about what's ahead in season six and why he's so "pleased" to write political comedy during Donald Trump's presidency.

After getting one season under your belt, what was the biggest challenge of writing this new one?

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina in the HBO spoof <i>Veep</i>.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina in the HBO spoof Veep.Credit: AP

I think it was, in some ways, that we were getting rid of home base. In the previous five years, she had segued from the vice-presidential office into the White House. As we sat down to do this season, I already had these ideas of (being) a year later and seeing where everyone was. There was a real sense of, "Well, where is she? She could really be anywhere." I did a lot of research into former presidents and how what it means to be a former president has changed, and really tried to figure out how we were going to ground her new world.

Was there ever any pushback to having Selina out of office?

No. When I first took the job, I sat down and said, "This is what's going to happen." When we first started talking about it, I wasn't sure the (electoral) tie would last all of last season. In my mind, there was a possibility that we would have resolved the tie five, six or seven episodes in, and she would've been a former president for the final two or three episodes of last year. As it turned out, we had so much we wanted to do with the tie. But everyone was always really down with the plan and excited about shaking things up yet again.

We've gotten to a point where a lot of what's happening in current politics seems more outrageous than anything in the show.

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Kicked out of office: Tony Hale, left, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Veep.

Kicked out of office: Tony Hale, left, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Veep.Credit: AP

That's the thing: Let's pretend that last year she won the election, Mike (Matt Walsh) was still in the press room and you were watching her as president. Then you were turning on the news and watching Trump in the Oval and (Sean) Spicer in the press room. I'm not sure we would've been as stupid or funny as them. So I'm pleased with the distance, because it allows us to continue to show what Washington is about, but in a different way.

At the same time, we're able to comment on Trump indirectly without feeling like also-rans. Like, last year on the show, we had Selina tweeting – that story now seems quaint. It's this wild thing where, because of what Trump is doing on a daily basis, having her as a former (president) allows us the distance we need to comment on him when we want to. Not him specifically, because he doesn't exist in our world, but to do stories down the line based on Trump stuff.

Matt Walsh on Veep.

Matt Walsh on Veep.Credit: AP

Are there any story lines this season specifically inspired by Trump?

Well, all of this season was really conceived last spring and written starting in June, so he really had no effect on the season. But as happens a lot with Veep, you can't help but watch our premiere and think of Hillary Clinton losing.

In the third episode, when (Selina) goes over to the Republic of Georgia to do some election-monitoring and the story gets very Russian with assassination attempts and bribery, I think everyone is going to think about the Russian stuff (in the news). But that's not where it came from. It's all just stuff that we were interested in, but ultimately because we're still trying to show what really goes on, we're still commenting on Trump even though we didn't set out to.

Do you already have a potential seventh season mapped out?

Not fully mapped out, but a pretty good idea of where it's going, and obviously hoping we come back for more. I'm having a lot of fun, and just from people I've bumped into, I think people are looking to laugh at politics even more now than they were maybe a year ago. So if people are looking to laugh, I don't want to stop that.

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