Actors Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, and showrunner Debora Cahn met with us recently in a press conference in New York to talk about the second season of their popular political thriller TV series, "The Diplomat." The series, which centers on Kate Wyler (Russell), the new United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, reveals how Wyler helps to defuse an international crisis, while trying to survive her marriage to fellow career diplomat and charismatic political star Hal Wyler (Sewell). It also stars David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, and Ato Essandoh.
Allison Janney also joins the cast in Season 2 as Vice President Grace Penn. In our conversation with Russell, Sewell and Cahn, they talk about the challenges of making Season 2, working together again, the memorable journey of this new season, among others. With the explosion at the end of last season, it feels like we end to Season 2 with much higher stakes for all of the characters.
How did this change the way that you were approaching storylines of the season and the show in the face of this? Cahn: This story, and it's so embarrassing to say, this was Season 1. All of this was Season 1. And then I got about two-thirds of the way through writing it, and I was like, I can't finish this story.
It took me a lot of time. And so, we were like, just lop this off. So, it's nice to be doing something that feels like a cohesive whole, but we were able to just take what was coming as the climax of Season 1 and turn it into all of Sea.