In a year when politics seem to dominate, well, everything, sometimes you just need a break. And when real-life politics start to feel overwhelming, Netflix has the perfect temporary distraction: The Diplomat, a razor-sharp political thriller series that weirdly won’t make you feel worse about our state of affairs, despite the fact that it’s essentially a treatise on how f*cked-up democracy and diplomacy have become. But with Season 2 dropping this fall, we’ll soon find out… how much worse can things get?
How much worse, that is, for Kate Wyler (the always fantastic Keri Russell), a career Foreign Service officer who’s married(ish) to another career diplomat, Hal (Rufus Sewell, in his most arrogant-and-obnoxious-yet-somehow-not-totally-unlikable role since The Holiday). Following a cliffhanger in the Season 1 finale, it’s clear that Kate’s relationships — both personal and political — will get even more explosive (too soon?) when the series returns.
Until then, here’s everything shared so far about what’s in store for Kate and co.
When is The Diplomat Season 2 release date?
Considering the renewal news for this series just sort of slid right by without too much fuss, you may be shocked to learn that Season 2 drops soon. It joins a stacked roster of shows returning this fall, premiering on Thursday, Oct. 31. Yep, a little Halloween baby! Seems fitting because what’s scarier than politics at this point?
How did Season 1 end?
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
In a very tense final few minutes of Season 1, Kate realizes it was British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) — and not the Iranian Government or Russia — who ordered the bombing of the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. He then used the incident to drum up some points in the poll by promising to “rain hellfire” upon the perpetrator.
Kate puts the pieces together when she flies to Paris to ask the French Minister of the Interior, Brielle Fournier (Micky Sébastian) for permission to use British Special Forces when arresting Lenkov, the Russian mercenary tied to the bombing of the Courageous. During that meeting, Fournier suggests that Trowbridge doesn’t intend to arrest Lenkov — he’s going to assassinate him.
Although Kate initially fears British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) knew about the extrajudicial assassination plans, his genuine shock when she confronts him proves otherwise. That’s when she connects all the dots, grabbing his phone, turning on loud music, and tossing both of their devices to the bodyguard out of earshot so their conversation can’t be overhead.
“Listen to me,” she says, staring intensely at Dennison. “A dead Lenkov is only good for the people who hired him. If Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge wants him dead—”
“Nicol Trowbridge hired him,” Dennison finishes her thought, as the truth fully dawns on both of them. Unfortunately, the plot is already in motion, and the ripple effect from it is already creating deadly consequences. When British MP Merritt Grove attempts to get into his car and leave after thinking Hal didn’t show up for a dinner meeting they’d planned, his car explodes.
Deputy Chief of Mission Stuart Heyford (Ato Essandoh), office clerk Ronnie (Jess Chanliau), and Hal all essentially collide at the same time trying to get to Grove. With Grove presumably killed in the attack, could Stuart, Ronnie, and Hal have survived?
Also, why bomb Grove’s car? Did he have insider information about Trowbridge’s involvement in the Courageous attack or subsequent assassination plot that he planned to share with Hal — so Trowbridge decided to silence him, too?
Who’s in the Season 2 cast?
Russell, as Kate Wyler, is the only existing cast member who’s been officially been confirmed to return. However, we can safely assume Gyasi, who plays Austin Dennison, will be back since he was standing with Kate when the car bombing occurred.
Other main cast members who will presumably be part of Season 2 are Sewell as Hal Wyler, Kinnear as Trowbridge, Essandoh as Stuart Hayford (no way they’re killing him off; we refuse to entertain the idea!), and Ali Ahn as Eidra Park.
In exciting cast addition news, Academy Award winner and seven-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney will step into a guest starring role as U.S. Vice President Grace Penn.
What’s the new season about?
Moving into Season 2, fans will find the answers to these questions… although those answers may create even more questions. Debora Cahn, creator of The Diplomat, hinted to Netflix’s Tudum that “everything we thought we knew about the Wylers changes, as does everything they think they know about each other.”
Given Kate and Hal’s very tumultuous marriage (if we can even call it that at this point), it’s not surprising to hear there will be much more tangling and untangling to come between the two.
But Season 2 will also focus on where Kate, as ambassador, goes from here. She now knows the very attack that brought her to the U.K. was the work of the British prime minister, with whom the U.S. shares intelligence. So, how does she now prove that without becoming a casualty of a politically motivated attack herself?
“I wanted to make people want more,” Cahn said of the nail-biter finale. “I wanted to bring together all of the different dynamics of the political relationships and the personal relationships in one event that splits apart all at the same time.”
Mission accomplished, Cahn. We’re all ~invested~ in the political drama now.
