The diplomat in conversation with Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Hasan

In April, the morning before the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Deadline gathered the stars of Netflix The diplomatKeri Russell and Rufus Sewell as well as the show's executive producer and showrunner Deborah Cahn in conversation with Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason at her residence.

During that conversation, Nason said that she sees “a lot” of similarities between her life and the show, but joked, “Some things I haven't seen are the skinny dipping or the midnight feasts.” I don't do much of that in the basement of mansions .”

Russell and Sewell also discussed the process of creating the first season, with the latter explaining that as two married, exciting foreign ambassadors, the chemistry between them “was there from day one, and if it's there, you leave it out.”

Regarding her role as foreign ambassador Kate Wyler, Russell said that she researches stories that are loosely based on real events, but “at the same time, you have to make it something new and create something that excites you or makes you upset in that moment.”

Watch the full video above to see the stars unpack Season 1 in time for Season 2, which arrives on Netflix on Thursday. With that refresher, check out the interview below where Cahn spoke to Deadline to kick off season two.

DEADLINE: So we end Season 1 with a car bombing that leaves Hal's fate up in the air. Now we know he's alive, but will this bombing change Hal and Kate's relationship? If yes, how?

CAHN: Sure, that's it. There are certain things that happen – world crises, personal crises, health crises – are at the top of the list that shape your relationships and turn them completely upside down. And this is one of those events. I think the interesting thing about Kate and Hal's relationship to me is that it's both fragile and durable at the same time, and there are so many things that are on the list of maybe minor, minor irritations that could tear it apart, but then, very quickly, these two people simply cling to each other in the face of life and death in a way that seems objectively right and will remain that way forever.

When I was younger, my camera had a wide angle and a telephoto lens (options), and you could just switch from one to the other and that was it. There wasn't a lot of zooming in and out on my little Sony, and I think that's what we do, constantly moving back and forth between these different places where you can see a relationship, another person's, or your own , can be read. Find out how your strong opinions about yourself and someone else can change 180 degrees in an instant.

DEADLINE: Can you tell me about the nomination of Allison Janney as vice president? Was the character conceived first or were you already hoping to reunite with Janney?

CAHN: So Grace Penn is mentioned in the first episode. When we first released the show, there was this idea that we were going to tell a really big Grace Penn story in the first season, and somehow that kept falling through. We were more interested in Kate and what Kate was going through. It was like a seed that we had planted in the ground and that something would eventually sprout. Once it became clear that Allison could be a real possibility, it was abundantly clear that this was the story waiting to be told when she first appeared. I didn't really believe it would happen. I couldn't imagine she would say yes. I was so excited when she did it, and then it was a relief knowing that as soon as the idea was on the table, I was like, “Oh yeah, no, we know what story.” We know that story. We've already written this story. The story is finished.'

DEADLINE: Before The diplomatwith which you flexed your political drama muscles The West Wing And Hometown. In what ways do you see influences from those involved in your work on this series, and in what ways do you feel like you're making a departure?

CAHN: What I took away (from these series) was the realization that you don't actually have to be an expert on something you want to write about, that there are smart people in the world who are willing to sit down and talk to you about it talk about doing whatever they want, and there are ways to take those real experiences and incorporate them into fiction in a way that still feels authentic without necessarily being realistic. I find The West Wing opened the door for many people: What does it mean to work for the government? Not only are the big successes and failures shown, but also what happens during the day and what the work looks like. For me it was exciting to be able to do this with the Foreign Service, with people who work in other countries on behalf of this service. This was something I didn't know coming into it.
I think at the most basic level: What does it mean to be the person who says, “We're going to have a conversation.” “We're not going to have a battle between tanks and guns.”

How do these conversations begin? What's next? How do you revive them when they fall apart? All of this just seemed like something I wanted to know for my sense of the world. There was an idealism The West Wingwho Aaron Sorkin was interviewed last week and said that wouldn't ring true today. This is probably true when it comes to how we approach stories The diplomat. These are things that cannot be solved easily in any way. We don't really get to the end of the story here. Some things get solved and then we find ourselves in the middle of another quagmire because it's just difficult for people, for countries, to get along. I think I wanted to represent the fact that people come into this work with enormous idealism and maintain it throughout their careers, but then learn that making the sausage is just complicated and difficult and has to be done. You have to be out there every day and be ready to do it, whether you like or dislike the government you represent this year or that year.

DEADLINE: Season 2 is shorter, which I think was your decision, but how did that affect the pacing of this season?

DEBORA CAHN: It certainly makes it much more of a single, coherent narrative. It doesn't feel like you're digressing and thinking about this small area of ​​storytelling for an episode, but it was a lot of fun. I grew up in the world of broadcast television, where we did 22 to 25 episodes a season, and it's just a very different style of storytelling. They bring people into a world and allow them to live there as residents for a time, rather than taking them on a single journey that speeds through space, so to speak. So there's always a part of me that's interested in the kinds of stories you could tell if you had a little more time. I loved writing about little things. I love writing about things that people don't really think about, that I don't really think about, and then you pay a little more attention to it and realize there's a whole world there too, but it was nice, just like that to be Be on this train that's moving fast.

DEADLINE: Is there anything in Season 2 that you didn't get to explore as much as you would have liked?

CAHN: Well, the nice thing is that we know we're moving forward in Season 3, so the things we didn't get done, we'll do them.