Netflix’s The Diplomat isn’t just a spectacular political thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. In my humble opinion, this series from creator Debora Cahn, a veteran of iconic series like Homeland and The West Wing, is actually one of the best Netflix originals, period, from the last few years. Blessed with a fantastic lead actress — Keri Russell, playing the brilliant and perpetually multi-tasking career diplomat who finds herself appointed ambassador to the UK — the show gets you invested right from the get-go. And it keeps you like that all the way to that explosive cliffhanger at the end of Season 1.
I know I wasn’t alone in screaming at the TV when the credits started to roll. So I also know that I’m not alone in my happiness that the streamer has finally revealed when we’ll get more episodes of The Diplomat, now that Season 2 is officially coming on Oct. 31 (Netflix has also released the first images from the new season, which are included in this post).
*Spoilers to follow*
Right off the bat, there are two big storylines to be aware of that will overshadow everything in the new season. For one thing, she was talked about all last season but never shown; now, we’ll actually get our first look at the show’s Vice President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney. A veep, by the way, who thinks that Kate is after her job (and who’s not entirely wrong in thinking that).
Also, and more importantly, we’ll also pick back up with the immediate aftermath of the bomb that went off during the Season 1 finale, an explosion that changed everything in an instant. Kate’s almost-ex-husband Hal Wyler, for example, had finally pieced some important things together but unfortunately got (literally) too close to the conspiracy he uncovered.
“Season 1 ended with Kate’s (Keri Russell) realization that the attack on a British warship [that] brought her to the UK wasn’t the work of a hostile nation — it was the British prime minister,” Cohn tells Netflix’s Tudum site. “Now she has to prove it. The US and the UK don’t spy on each other,” she continues. “In fact, they share all their intelligence. So how do you investigate the PM? Who do you trust?”
Long story short, everything we thought we knew about the Wylers has changed going into Season 2. So does everything they thought they knew about each other, while Kate’s world has likewise been titled on its axis. It all certainly made for a tight, seriously addictive first season debut — and you don’t have to take my word for it.
The Diplomat premiered back in April and debuted at No. 1 on Netflix’s weekly global Top 10 TV ranking. In its first weekend alone, according to Netflix, the series had 57.48 million hours viewed and appeared in the Top 10 in 87 countries.
“Fans around the world are loving every minute of The Diplomat’s gripping and propulsive drama, and embracing Keri Russell’s powerful performance as Kate Wyler,” Jinny Howe, vice president of drama series at Netflix, said in a statement about the series. “After that jaw-dropping cliff-hanger, we can’t wait for them to see what the amazing visionary team of Debora Cahn, Janice Williams, and Keri Russell have in store for Season 2.”
