Emmy-nominee Keri Russell is back as ambassador Kate Wyler, who in season two must sort through the wreckage of an explosive conspiracy that could topple more than one world power
The darkly comedic political thriller The Diplomat is back with a six-episode second season on Thursday. Once again, Keri Russell (Emmy-nominated for season one) leads the alternately poignant, taut and satirical intrigue as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom Kate Wyler. This year, Kate struggles with the realization that the British government was behind a deadly bombing of one of its own ships in the Persian Gulf — the attack that led to her reassignment in the series premiere.
Burdened by the knowledge of possible treason, Kate fights to find the truth and prove who exactly ordered the strike. But in a world like Kate’s, where information is currency, who can she trust? The ambassador is never truly alone, and as evidenced by the events of the first season, even her most personal secrets become public knowledge.
Also returning are David Gyasi as U.K. foreign secretary Austin Dennison, with whom Kate shared a fraught flirtation in season one; Ali Ahn as CIA station chief Eidra Park, once of Kate’s closest allies; Ato Essandoh as Stuart Heyford, a U.S. embassy official who frequently finds himself caught between Kate’s agenda and that of the higher-ups in D.C.; Celia Imrie as mysterious U.K. power broker Margaret Roylin; and Rory Kinnear as temperamental PM Nicol Trowbridge.
A career diplomat, Kate has proven to be an unpolished gem in the more forward-facing, PR-friendly role as ambassador to the U.K. Though she arrived ready to work, Kate quickly learned that there was more to her reassignment than what was on the surface. President William Rayburn (Michael McKean) and his chief of staff, Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), sprung the more public position on the very no-frills Kate as a means of vetting her for the soon-to-be-vacated VP seat. Now caught up on the plan, this season Kate faces down Vice President Grace Penn herself, portrayed by new cast member, Emmy- and Oscar-winner Allison Janney, a smooth political operator who is not about to back down.
Creator Debora Cahn shared with Tudum a bit about fellow West Wing alum Janney’s role in the new season, saying: “the VP thinks Kate’s after her job . . . and she’s not entirely wrong. Kate thinks she understands the VP. She is mistaken.” After getting the lay of the land on the other side of the pond, Kate is more ready than ever for a fight — whether it’s for the title of VP or holding the government responsible for murders it tried to pin on other nations.
In a teaser trailer for the upcoming season, Kate and VP Penn share a steely stare from opposite ends of a red carpet, cameras flashing, with the diplomat stood next to — spoiler alert — Kate’s husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), who has survived the car bomb cliffhanger from last season’s finale. (As for the handful of others who were caught in the blast radius, you’ll just have to wait and see!)
A former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Hal is a sort of foil to Kate. Charismatic and magnetic, the man has an uncanny ability to work any room he steps into and ended up deeply embedded in his wife’s ambassadorship. It’s a skill that’s served him well in his career, aided by Kate’s sharp instincts in a true partnership, but now it’s his wife’s turn to lead. Natural debaters, the husband and wife bickered regularly over how best to set Kate up as a power player. The Wylers walked a delicate tightrope together in the series’ first chapter and share a complicated relationship, to say the least.
On the one hand, they’re a political match made in heaven. They understand each other and the way that they work, and while they keep select personal and professional secrets to themselves, they move pretty seamlessly together through government bureaucrat chaos.
On the other hand, the move to London caught the Wylers as they were waffling over the decision of when to divorce. It’s hard to take their threats of splitting up seriously, considering their chemistry and ability to work together, however Kate has always insisted it’s for the best while Hal continuously campaigned for continued matrimony. The need for Kate to appear as sturdy as possible from the outside has tipped the scales in Hal’s favour so far, but things move quickly in The Diplomat and people like him are bound to have skeletons in their closet. (And that’s to say nothing of Kate’s undeniable attraction to the aforementioned Mr. Dennison.)
Hal’s miraculous survival of the car bombing is sure to have some impact on the state of the marriage, and even with divorce looming, Kate trusts her sometimes-nearly-ex-husband more than anyone else in her circle. So, what can viewers expect to see from the pair this season? Cahn shared only a cryptic take on Kate and Hal, telling Tudum: “Everything we thought we knew about the Wylers changes, as does everything they think they know about each other.”
Season two of The Diplomat begins streaming Thursday, October 31 on Netflix