The West Wing writers are scrambling to come up with a plot solution to deal with the sudden death of John Spencer. Spencer portrayed Leo McGarry , administration chief of staff in previous seasons, and vice presidential candidate this season. Besides being an important featured player on the show, Spencer was a fan favorite and will be deeply missed. Oddly, Spencer’s character, Leo McGarry, suffered a near-fatal heart attack last season, the same affliction Spencer died from Friday.

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The West Wing was on a scheduled production hiatus for the holidays at the time of Spencer’s death—the actor died less than a day after he checked into a Los Angeles hospital with a bad cold, according to his publicist. Writers and producers for the series are expected to gather this week to decide how to handle the remainder of the season, a studio spokeswoman said.
Spencer appeared in seven of the 14 episodes of The West Wing has completed for its seventh season as of last week, according to The West Wing producer Warner Bros. Television. Nine of those 14 episodes have already aired; The West Wing isn’t scheduled to air a new episode until January.

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