LBNL Director Mike Witherell is a longtime friend of the actor Hector Elizondo. When Dr. Witherell was director of Fermilab, Elizondo was selected to play a character in an episode of The West Wing, Dr. Dalton Millgate, a national lab director “from the Midwest” advocating for federal funding to support the construction of a large particle accelerator. Although Aaron Sorkin’s script for Season 3, Episode 16, “Dead Irish Writers” was not influenced by Witherell or Elizondo, their longtime friendship made Elizondo a natural casting choice. During this talk, Director Witherell shares lessons from his experience credibly representing big fundamental science to popular audiences and what he thought of the episode’s portrayal of science and its fictionalized intersection with policymaking.