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“I’m interested in those moments where you feel like a line has been breached and then you decide the line should move,” showrunner Debora Cahn says.

Grace Penn is now president.

In the final moments of The Diplomat’s second season, Hal (Rufus Sewell) shocked everyone by calling President Rayburn (Michael McKean) with the news of Grace’s (Allison Janney) involvement in the attack on the British vessel. He shocked Rayburn so much that the man died. And when season 3 picks up, we’re back in that moment: Grace Penn is president, and she — alongside Kate (Keri Russell) and everyone else — is trying to figure out what just happened.

“What I love is seeing the crazy minutia of, legally, what has to happen to make her president,” Russell tells Entertainment Weekly.

For showrunner Debora Cahn, change was always a given. “It’s such a part of the fabric of working in the foreign service,” Cahn says. “This is a story about coming in, not knowing about a place, getting to know the place, and then as soon as you feel like you have a handle on it, you’re off to someplace else. Or all of the dynamics have shifted.”

And with each change, the characters will have to check in on what matters — both for them, personally, and for the country they’ve promised to serve. “What we’re looking for are situations that change your moral perspective on the picture you’re looking at,” Cahn says. “There’s been an earthquake. You have to take all of your principles and values and see how they need to hopefully not disappear but shift for the new reality. We’re telling a story about people who are used to shifting reality all the time.” Continue reading The Diplomat boss, Keri Russell talk season 3

Keri Russell is often dodging bullets on screen, but in real life, one of the most dangerous things she does—which is, arguably, kind of dangerous—is ride her bike around Brooklyn without a helmet.

“I’m not biking through Manhattan up Fifth Avenue like a bike messenger, weaving in and out of traffic. I’m riding on a bike path through bucolic Brooklyn Heights,” she says after noting that her family gives her grief about it. She says it’s her only vice. “I’m not doing cocaine, up all night on Friday nights. I ride a bike at 6 a.m. without a helmet, to let my hair blow in the breeze and feel like a teenager. Please give it to me.”

The actress, who famously let her hair down as an intrepid New York college student in “Felicity” more than 20 years ago, is known for portraying imperfectly powerful women in powerfully imperfect marriages. She put her stamp on prestige TV with FX’s “The Americans,” playing a Russian spy who fooled the neighbors alongside her agent husband, portrayed by Welsh actor Matthew Rhys. The show put a stamp on her personal life as well: She and Rhys are in a long-term relationship and together have an 8-year-old son. Russell has two children, ages 11 and 17, from a previous relationship.

Continue reading Keri Russell Starts the Day by Bouncing Around in Her Underwear

“The Diplomat” has been renewed for Season 3 weeks ahead of the show’s Season 2 premiere.

The Netflix political drama is premiering its second season on Oct. 31. Production on the third season is now underway in London and New York. The news was officially confirmed by Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria on stage at the Bloomberg Screentime Conference in Los Angeles.

Keri Russell leads the cast of “The Diplomat,” with Rufus Sewell, Allison Janney, David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear and Ato Essandoh also starring.

“After an amazing summer shooting in the UK, we brought London home to NY,” said series creator Debora Cahn. “Best of both worlds — filming in Brooklyn. We love doing this. We’re so excited to get to keep going.”

“The Diplomat” originally debuted on Netflix in April 2023 to strong critical and audience acclaim. Russell was nominated for both an Emmy and Golden Globe for Season 1, with the show itself picking up a Golden Globe nod for best drama series among several other accolades.

In addition to creating the series, Cahn serves as showrunner and executive producer on “The Diplomat.” Russell executive produces in addition to starring. Janice Williams and Alex Graves also executive produce.

The official description for Season 2 states:
“A deadly explosion in the heart of London shatters US Ambassador Kate Wyler’s world (Russell). Struggling to rebuild the lives that broke and the team that split apart, Kate’s worst fears unfold: The attack that brought her to the UK didn’t come from a rival nation, it came from inside the British government. As Kate chases the truth, her only real ally is her almost-ex-husband Hal Wyler (Sewell), very much alive, and very much involved. She faces a fraught marriage, a complex dynamic with British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (Gyasi), and a threatening visit from Vice President Grace Penn (Janney).”

Source: https://variety.com/

A marriage of unequal equals is at the core of Netflix’s hit series “The Diplomat,” in which whip-smart Middle East specialist Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is thrust into a high-profile ambassadorship in the United Kingdom with her legendary diplomat husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), in tow. “What does it mean to be second on the totem pole for so long, then become number one?” says showrunner Debora Cahn of her show’s central premise. “How do your priorities change, and your image of the work?”

For Russell, coming off an all-timer of a show about marriage and work so tensely knit together (“The Americans”), the appeal was evident: When the stakes are international-incident level, messiness in humans is especially fun to play. “Kate is really harsh to people, and she’s in this complicated relationship,” she says. “It’s likable when people have flaws, and they don’t have their life figured out.”

What inspired this show, Debora? And you to get involved, Keri?

Debora Cahn: When I worked on “Homeland,” we had expert after expert come in. This woman named Beth Jones, she was an ambassador, and had been assistant secretary of State, and she looked a bit like a librarian, or more exactly, my Aunt Ruthie. Then she starts talking about what she does in a typical day, and it’s like an action movie. I got excited about her stories.

Keri Russell: Deb has said it’s her love letter to the State Department and diplomats everywhere.

Cahn: Once there was a script, the dream was Keri Russell. Like, “Who’s a pale imitation of Keri Russell?” Somebody was like, “Why don’t we call her?” And she said yes!

Russell: I loved Debora’s writing, the discomfort on top of being smart and bossy. [Kate’s] not polished. I like how unapologetically herself she is as a character. No one likes the perfect person. They’re not fun to watch. Continue reading Inside Keri Russell’s unapologetically flawed title character of ‘The Diplomat’