3 Good Reasons to Watch ‘The Diplomat,’ Netflix’s New Political Thriller

Netflix’s The Diplomat is your next binge watch. Keri Russell (Felicity; The Americans) plays Kate Wyler, a career diplomat who's preparing for a new high-stakes job in Kabul but at the last minute is appointed to be the ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Kate, who is better suited to conflict zones than fundraising parties, is unhappy to be put in the largely ceremonial role. But once she gets across the pond, she's thrust into an international crisis that she must defuse—all the while balancing her turbulent marriage to a fellow political star, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell, whom you may recall as Kate Winslet’s assoholic ex in The Holiday).

Here’s why you need to watch The Diplomat on Netflix.

It’s a natural successor to hall-of-fame political dramas like Homeland and The West Wing

Like other top-notch political thrillers, The Diplomat is rife with diplomatic disputes and complex interpersonal relationships. Fans are already calling The Diplomat “a modern West Wing,” which makes sense: The show was created by Debora Cahn, who was an executive producer for Homeland and a writer and producer for The West Wing.

Keri Russell gives the performance of a lifetime

The Diplomat is undoubtedly a star vehicle for Russell, who is best known for her roles in Felicity, The Americans and, more recently, the movie Cocaine Bear and the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations. Russell is dynamic in her role as Kate, balancing dense political dialogue with the difficult emotions inherent to navigating complicated relationships with her husband, her staff, her advisors and her career.

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In one scene in particular, in the first episode, Kate gets a press briefing after her husband Hal visits a memorial for American soldiers in the U.K.—after being encouraged to stay out of the public eye, unless he's accompanying Kate. (He is, after all, the “ambassador’s wife,” a role that sidelines his ambitions and talents in favour of supporting Kate’s.) The position is frustrating for the highly charming Hal, who’s used to having his career come first. Kate, who struggles with her husband’s ongoing renegade behaviour, is at once frustrated at his inability to do as he’s told, worried about how it reflects on her, suspicious of his meddling and annoyed at the positive coverage his visit garners from the press. (Especially given she attended the same memorial, to little fanfare.)

Russell’s performance conveys this cocktail of emotions beautifully and convincingly. This scene sets up the dynamic between Kate and Hal (and their staff, who begin to recognize Hal’s interference in Kate’s affairs is fuelled by ulterior motives) for the rest of the season.

The marriage dynamics are just as juicy as the political intrigue

Kate and Hal's dynamic is inspired by real-life political power couples, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, among others. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the messy partnership between the two ambassadors is described as “truer than it seems” by a former CIA official who was a consultant on the show.

The marriage is also put under a microscope almost immediately after the couple arrives in the U.K., especially as—spoiler alert!—one of the main plot twists involves the two being forced, for career reasons, to stay married despite Kate’s desire to divorce. The Diplomat’s personal stakes end up being just as weighty as the political ones, making for some undeniably good TV. (Netflix clearly agrees: The Diplomat was just picked up for a second season.)

Watch The Diplomat on Netflix, out now.
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