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Keri Russell has been thinking about the vice president — in ‘The Diplomat’ and real life

This article contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “The Diplomat” on Netflix.

In “The Diplomat,” Keri Russell plays a career diplomat covertly being primed to assume the role of vice president — without having to win over an electorate. In real life, one week before election day, Russell has just returned to her home in Brooklyn after casting her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris to be elected the next U.S. president.

“It feels emotional,” she says over a video call, her “I Voted” sticker visible on the upper right side of her cream-colored sweatshirt. “It’s so cool to be standing with everyone in your community, all different ages and all different backgrounds. And to get the chance to possibly elect the first female Black president is f— awesome.”

Time will tell if that comes to fruition. But on “The Diplomat,” a female vice president has indeed become president.

The first season introduced Russell’s Kate Wyler as a seasoned foreign service officer who has her sights set on taking a post in Afghanistan but is reluctantly enlisted by the White House to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom in order to quietly prep her to become vice president.

The new season, now streaming, has Kate facing the woman she’s been tapped to push out, Vice President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney. Just as Kate had warmed to the idea of assuming the position — after learning of the VP’s questionable deal makings on foreign affairs — the plan becomes moot in the closing minutes of the season when the president dies. To make things more complicated, the president died while being briefed on the VP’s practices by Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), Kate’s husband and a respected veteran diplomat.

Russell spoke with The Times about what the finale sets up for Season 3, currently in production, the silly handoff Janney gave Russell before a scene and what it was like to work on the upcoming season in the run-up to the election. Continue reading Keri Russell has been thinking about the vice president — in ‘The Diplomat’ and real life

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Keri Russell Starts the Day by Bouncing Around in Her Underwear

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

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‘The Diplomat’ Renewed for Season 3 at Netflix Ahead of Season 2 Premiere

“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/

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Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell Talk Starring in New Dylan Thomas Play and Praise Taylor Swift for Introducing the Welsh Poet to a ‘New Generation’

Mathew Rhys has been an “unabashed” fan of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas for as long as he can remember.

He cemented his love of the writer — best known for his poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” — when he portrayed him in the 2008 biopic “The Edge of Love.”

“When you tell most English people that you love Dylan Thomas, they go, ‘Grrr,’ because it’s such a cliché,” Rhys says. “But I’m unabashed that I’m a lifer.”

He’ll play Thomas once again on May 14 in a one-night only stage reading of “Dear Mr. Thomas: A New Play for Voices,” a production by Christopher Monger about Welsh’s time in New York in the 1950s when the 92nd Street Y organized four U.S. tours for Dylan. He wrote the play “Under Milk Wood” during that time while also becoming a rock star-like celebrity known for his drunken escapades and womanizing. He famously stayed at the Chelsea Hotel before dying at a nearby hospital in 1953 when he was just 39.

Keri Russell will play Welsh’s assistant and mistress Liz Reitell. Rounding out the cast are Kate Burton, Gopal Divan, Betsy Zajko and Taylor Trensch.

I caught up with Rhys and Russell over Zoom from their New York home to talk Thomas, Taylor Swift referencing him in the title track of “The Tortured Poets Department” album and what other plays they’d like to collaborate on. Continue reading Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell Talk Starring in New Dylan Thomas Play and Praise Taylor Swift for Introducing the Welsh Poet to a ‘New Generation’

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White House Correspondents’ Dinner Preview: POTUS, Politics Media & Showbiz Converge For D.C.’s Party-Palooza

This year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner likely will see an uptick in the celebrity quotient.

The star power could come as a function of the 2024 election year and a dinner lineup in which Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost will be the featured entertainer following President Joe Biden‘s own stand-up act. POTUS himself probably will stay mum on the court drama of rival and predecessor Donald Trump unfolding in NYC this week, but expect Jost to get a zinger or two in there.

Among the showbiz types expected to attend are Chris Pine, Da’Vine Joy Rudolph, Jon Hamm, Scarlett Johansson and Rachel Brosnahan. Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell from Netflix’s The Diplomat also are planning to attend, after headlining a Deadline event with series creator Debora Cahn at the Irish Ambassador ambassador’s’ residence on Saturday morning. Also planning to attend: SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

Source: https://deadline.com/

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Keri Russell Feels Right at Home as The Diplomat

Longtime Keri Russell fans remember her as one of the stars of The All New Mickey Mouse Club before she became a household name playing the titular star of Felicity. It was a character she became synonymous with, and for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Where some iconic ’90s actors might have faded out with the decade, Russell has been consistently working, receiving several Emmy and Golden Globe nods for her role as the sophisticated spy Elizabeth Jennings in the cult favorite show The Americans,set mostly in a Washington, D.C., suburb during the height of the Cold War and inspired by the true story that broke in 2010 of a cell of Russian agents hiding in plain sight in the United States for years. Now Russell has returned to politics, but in a different capacity, with The Diplomat, the Netflix series for which she’s been nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her role as Kate Wyler, a slightly disheveled, inexperienced new U.S. ambassador to the U.K.

Continue reading Keri Russell Feels Right at Home as The Diplomat

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Inside Keri Russell’s unapologetically flawed title character of ‘The Diplomat’

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’

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‘The Diplomat,’ Starring Keri Russell, Lands Quick Renewal at Netflix

Netflix is keeping The Diplomat at her post for another season.

Less than two weeks after the series debuted, the streamer has renewed The Diplomat for a second season. The political drama, starring Keri Russell as the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, premiered April 20 and was Netflix’s most watched series for that week (per the company’s internal metrics) with 57.48 million hours of viewing worldwide. The season also ended with a cliffhanger that now promises to get resolved in a second season.

Russell plays Kate Wyler, a career foreign service officer who was expecting to go to Afghanistan but ends up appointed to the U.K. With war brewing on one continent and boiling over on another, Kate works to diffuse international crises, forge strategic alliances in London, and adjust to her new place in the spotlight — all while trying to survive her marriage to fellow career diplomat and political star Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear and Ato Essandoh also star.

“I feel like I’m a person with a fairly clear-eyed view of what America is in the world,” creator and showrunner Debora Cahn (The West Wing, Homeland) told The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast. “For me the question was can you get both [the good and bad aspects of the country] in the same show, can you get both in the same story and in the same character? We lucked out with actors that can speak in both of those vernaculars.”

Cahn executive produces the series with Russell and Janice Williams.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

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For Keri Russell, the intrigue of ‘The Diplomat’ is its messy humanity

Keri Russell lost her voice.

The actress whispered a hoarse apology after canceling an interview last week, unable to muster much more lest she worsen her condition. She calls days later, sounding better and joking about all the time she spent promoting her new Netflix series, “The Diplomat,” while barely speaking.

It was like “The Little Mermaid,” she says. “You’re going to show up, but you’ll be silent.”

One could argue the mishap is straight out of “The Diplomat” itself, in which Russell’s title character, while competent at her work in the Foreign Service, is always a bit out of sorts. She gets into a physical scuffle outdoors just moments before meeting the president, whom she greets slightly out of breath and with dirt on her face. Later, she discovers a yogurt stain on her clothes as she gets ready to walk into the Oval Office. Losing her voice wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. Listen, life happens. Continue reading For Keri Russell, the intrigue of ‘The Diplomat’ is its messy humanity

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Keri Russell on The Diplomat: “I have to really like something to pursue it”

Five years after The Americans ended, Keri Russell is finally back on TV with a worthy leading role in Netflix’s politically charged The Diplomat. The actor has always been a tour de force, from her heartrending turn in the 2007 film Waitress to escaping a coked-up creature in 2023’s big screen hit Cocaine Bear. But it’s on TV where Russell has really made her mark, starting with a breakout performance on the young adult drama of the ’90s, Felicity, (who can forget “The Felicity haircut?”), where she earned acclaim for essaying a character who learns to rise above society’s expectations.

Since then it’s become Russell’s forte to play a woman who delights in breaking norms. At first glance, for instance, The Americans’ Elizabeth Jennings is a ruthless Russian spy. But Russell shepherds her into an all-timer by bringing gravitas and surprising warmth to the role. Now, Russell takes those skills to The Diplomat. Created by Debora Cahn, a producer and writer for The West Wing and Homeland, the series follows Russell’s Kate Wyler, a motivated U.S. ambassador who is unexpectedly stationed in London after an apparent terrorist attack. She’s tasked with curbing the potential for war between several countries while also navigating a complex marriage with her ego-driven political husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell). Continue reading Keri Russell on The Diplomat: “I have to really like something to pursue it”