The Diplomat Creator, Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell talk about Season 2

Note: The following story contains spoilers for season two of The Diplomat.

After “The Diplomat” established the complex marriage between Keri Russell's Kate and Rufus Sewell's Hal, Season 2 explores how the couple's dynamics change after tragedy strikes.

“What we see is what happens after trauma, what happens after tragedy… the daily irritations and power struggles that can be blown away in an incident like this,” creator Debora Cahn told TheWrap. “It blows out all the smoke of the mundanity of a relationship and suddenly you’re dealing with the real core of the relationship.”

While Kate and Hal were nearing divorce at the start of the season 1 finale, there was an explosion in the finale's final moments that left Hal's fate hanging in the balance. Season 2 begins immediately afterwards, and Kate drops everything to care for Hal, whose critical condition thankfully stabilizes soon after Kate's arrival.

“There's something so monumental when something happens to a partner that realigns everything,” Russell told TheWrap. “There are a lot of things that are up for debate on our show, about their competitiveness as a couple or about their push and pull and their hatred and their love and all of those things, but I think beyond that they are the protectors of the others. When that happens, you just drop everything and everything else feels ridiculous and frivolous.”

While Russell admits that Kate “certainly considered other options” in Season 1, particularly through her alliance with British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), she points to director Alex Grave's instructions that Kate didn't even make eye contact with Dennison had after learning of Hal's accident. “She says, 'That's done – that's so over,'” Russell said.

While Kate is still reeling from the discovery that British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) was behind the terrorist attack that sent her to London, Russell adds that her discovery “only brings her closer to Hal,” saying: “She trusts him from the beginning.” Above all, she knows that she can trust him, no matter what she's ever done to him. She knows she can count on him.”

“The energy between them and their kind is kind of unstoppable,” Sewell added.

While Kate and Hal stood as a (mostly) united front to address the looming global crisis before them, Cahn admitted that she didn't know that marriage would become as central to the Netflix series as it already has has.

“It really turned out to be a portrait of a marriage, and it was nice to know that that was happening,” Cahn said, “to have the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject and know that we Keri and Rufus.” who worked together in such an incredible way and had such a great time together, and that those Kate and House scenes are so compelling that you can write the 15-page scene and do it on TV – “That’s not normal.”

While Hal survived the car bomb explosion, the season 1 premiere reveals that Stuart's aide Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau) wasn't so lucky. His death, treated with remarkable reverence for a minor character, sends Kate into a spiral as she ponders whether she is more like her husband than she would like to admit

“I liked the idea … that these two people who came together in a kind of shared passion for their work were torn apart by … a different ethical line in the sand and different ideas about what was an acceptable risk in attempting this very important one “To fulfill the task,” explained Cahn. “The idea was to sort of repair the wound that had originally dealt such a terrible blow to their marriage, namely Hal's history of doing things that put people who work for her in danger, and so on . “People died – at least that’s how Kate sees it.”

Cahn wanted to put Kate in Hal's shoes as she witnessed the diplomatic community come together to mourn Ronnie in a way that Cahn likens to the loss of a child in a relationship.

“Would her opinion of (Hal) change and would she have more insight into the decisions he made and what that would mean for their relationship?” Cahn asked. “What would it do to the people around her – the people who looked up to her the way she initially looked up to Hal – it was a kind of hero worship, and there's a real loss of faith that happens when someone who cares so much about you.” that you care about and respect so much endangers something that you feel endangers the life of another.”

Season 2 also introduces Allison Janney as Vice President Grace Penn, a character Cahn describes as “an unexplained, unexploded grenade that we had in our pockets that was kind of waiting to be deployed” after describing the character – and the scandal surrounding her husband – first mentioned in Season 1. Janney's appearance also reunites the “The West Wing” star with Cahn, who served as a producer on “The West Wing”.

“Sometimes I don't dream big enough, and one of our great Netflix execs said, 'Well, have you thought about bringing Allison in?' And I just never believed it would work – I didn't think she would say yes and it was just amazing when I called her and she did it,” Cahn said. “We hadn't seen each other for a few years and it was kind of scary for her to write again. I was very intimidated by it and it turned out just as magical as we hoped.”

“I was such a huge fan of The West Wing and everything I ever saw of her. “So it was a big skill on the show to let her know the news that she was coming on board,” Sewell said, applauding her for being fun to work with and prepared on set. “It was just a pleasure.”

Because Grace acts in a way that is foreign to Kate, Russell notes that Grace's challenge to Kate ultimately leads Kate and Hal to grow closer. “When someone pushes or pulls one of us, it brings us closer together, so I think a counterpart is good because it just makes them closer,” Russell said. “Even though there was so much of a disintegration at the end of last season, I think there are a lot of things that brought them together this season.”

As Kate and Grace present examples of alternative ways to engage with femininity on the political stage, their conversations run parallel to discussions about the upcoming presidential election – even though the show was written long before Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential bid.

“We like to talk about what's going on in the world, but we're not trying to be a dramatization of real events or political figures – and then it got real… the show suddenly got dangerously close to what was.” “What going on in the world,” Cahn said. “And on some level it’s exciting. But I also don't want to give the impression that we're making a comment on this particular presidential election, even though we're talking about a presidential election. And boy, a lot of the characteristics are similar.”

“The Diplomat” Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.