Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’ Is A Genius What-If Inspired By Real People

Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell in ‘The Diplomat’ on Netflix.

PHOTO BY LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX.

This article contains spoilers.

We are three seasons into Netflix’s Emmy-nominated political thriller The Diplomat, and series creator Debora Cahn has consistently proven herself a brilliant storyteller. Cahn, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer, continues to raise the stakes and increase the tension in this edge-of-your-seat drama that explores what could happen if the United States and the United Kingdom turned against each other.

Cahn’s exceptional writing, in combination with this talented ensemble of actors, propelled the new season into Netflix’s Top 10 English TV list, securing the No. 3 spot in its first four days with 4.8 million views.

In season three, the relationship between Keri Russell’s Kate Wyler, the U.S. ambassador to the UK, and her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) is already in tatters following the sudden death of President William Rayburn (Michael McKean), which immediately put Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) into the role of President. Shockingly, and to Kate’s dismay, President Penn picked Hal to be her VP, even though Kate was primed for the job.

In an interview before the October 16 premiere of the eight-episode third season, Russell and Cahn discussed the many women who inspired Russell’s character.

“Kate is an amalgamation of many women,” began Russell, acknowledging there was one woman, Ambassador Beth Jones, who served as the main inspiration. Cahn first met Jones when she was working on the Showtime hit Homeland, and this meeting was integral in her coming up with the concept for The Diplomat.

“I have met Beth Jones and she’s incredible,” added Russell, pointing out that Kate was inspired by many strong, powerful women, including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. “I have met many of these women and have taken little pieces of them and their stories. They’re incredible people that we’ve been lucky enough to meet.”

As for Kate’s complicated marriage to Hal, Russell confirmed that they remind her of a famous political power couple. “There are echoes of the Clinton relationship with them.”

In an interview last year, just before the premiere of season two, Cahn described her fascination with Jones to me. “She walks in the door, and she looks a little bit like your kindly librarian, and then she starts talking, and it is mind-boggling what comes out of her mouth. She’s on a plane, and she gets off, and then the plane explodes, but she still has to go to the meeting with the warlords to have a negotiation. We called her a superhero in a pantsuit. I have books of notes from Spy Camp, and on a page from the first time that I met Beth, it says underlined, ‘She is a series!’ I started focusing more on ambassadors after that.”

Jones, she said at the time, regaled her with fascinating stories and put her in touch with some of her colleagues. “Within five minutes, she sent me an email with a list of the names of 40 ambassadors, most of them women, and we talked to just about everybody on the list. There it was; we immediately had easily seven seasons’ worth of stories, and we’ve just begun to scratch the surface.”

Throughout the third season, Kate tries to step into the role of second lady with a consolation prize of a newly created title as a special envoy to Europe, but she’s not happy about it.

Kate’s life gets complicated as she juggles a relationship with Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) and becomes romantically involved with British spy Callum Ellis (Aidan Turner). She also finds a new ally in the First Gentleman, Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford).

As for this season’s theme of allies becoming foes in both politics and personal relationships, Cahn said it was a fascinating what-if scenario to explore. “We have this great relationship with the U.K. They feel very familiar, like cousins, but then once you get really down into the meat of things, we’re different countries, with different traditions and different cultures and different needs.”

Cahn added how the collision of sameness and differentness gave her a lot of great material. “Initially, it seemed like it would be a lot of fun to tell a story about having a relationship and then a conflict with a country that we, as the United States, don’t really ever have conflict with. But the world has changed enough that there’s not really any country that we don’t have conflict with anymore. So, it’s a little bit more realistic than I think we hoped it would be, but, you know, you can’t predict what’s coming.”

In a separate interview, Janney and Whitford talked about working together again after their time on The West Wing, where Cahn was a writer.

“Debora is so beautiful at crafting relationships and the cost of politics in relationships,” said Janney. “These are two people who have been with each other a long time, and they irritate the hell out of each other, like any couple who has been married as long as they’ve been married. They just bug each other, and they’re getting on each other’s nerves.”

Janney pointed to a wordless scene brilliantly crafted by Cahn as an example of her extraordinary writing. “The scene is silent, and then you see Grace and Todd get into bed on their different sides, and then you see a couple of moments pass, and then Todd comes over and puts his arm around Grace, and they snuggle together and go to bed. I thought that was such a great metaphor for their relationship. It’s just been so much fun to play those dynamics and to have all the history that Brad and I have together from our years on The West Wing. To bring that into our relationship makes it just so much fun to play. I love that scene.”

“You rarely get that kind of writing on television,” added Whitford. “I think Allison and I would agree that we’ve been lucky to have had it a couple of times, but it’s a voice and Debora’s is different from Aaron Sorkin’s. But it’s just as complicated. The thoughts are flying. There’s an energy to it that is something you really look for.”

Yet again, Cahn delivered a genius cliffhanger with a slow burn that doesn’t reveal itself until the last thirty seconds. The bombshell twist follows the discovery of a nuclear weapon known as the Poseidon located on a Russian submarine off England’s coast. Kate worked her magic and got the ornery British Prime Minister, Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear), to agree to bury the submarine and the Poseidon in concrete on the ocean floor.

Just when you think you know how it’s going to end, Cahn unravels and exposes even more secrets. Callum initially tells Kate that the Russians found the submarine and stole the Poseidon. She then concludes that a deal was not a deal, and that Hal and Grace went behind everyone’s backs and concocted a plan to steal it. This could lead to a war between the U.K. and Russia if the Russians think the British were behind the theft. This is a betrayal so cunning it might just be the final straw that breaks the friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. and Kate and Hal’s marriage.

Will Kate and her team, including Stuart (Ato Essandoh) and CIA station chief Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), prevent a war? And will Hal and Kate’s marriage survive this betrayal?

Cahn can twist a knot and unravel storylines with the best of them, and fans can look forward to an exciting fourth season of the Netflix hit, which is already in the works.