The Diplomat is back for a second season, and the stakes are higher than ever. The Netflix series, starring Keri Russell as U.S. Ambassador Kate Wyler, returns on October 31. In the newly released trailer, Kate is thrown into the aftermath of the explosive cliffhanger that ended season one, as she tries to uncover who orchestrated the bombing that left her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), gravely injured.
Picking up immediately after the events in central London, the trailer shows Kate and the British foreign secretary (David Gyasi) scrambling to make sense of the situation. Though it’s confirmed that Hal survived, he remains in critical condition, cracking a joke even from his hospital bed when Kate asks if he can hear her: “No.”
The trailer also ties the recent explosion to the attack on a British warship that opened the series, with the British prime minister (Rory Kinnear) boldly blaming Russia for both incidents. “They’ve attacked us at sea and at home,” he declares, fueling further tension.
But viewers know there’s more to the story. Kate suspects the attack on the warship was actually instigated by the British government, with the prime minister possibly playing a role. In the trailer, Kate shares her “call is coming from inside the house” theory with the CIA’s U.K. station chief (Ali Ahn), even scribbling her suspicions on a hospital whiteboard before hastily erasing them when someone enters the room.
Season two will see Kate digging deeper into both attacks while dealing with the complex dynamics of her personal life. Her relationship with Hal is on shaky ground, especially after her budding attraction to Austin Dennison (Gyasi) was left unresolved. In one scene, Hal confronts Kate, asking if she planned on sleeping with Dennison. Kate admits that she was considering it, adding to the emotional tension between them.
Netflix’s synopsis for season two hints at even more drama: “A deadly explosion in the heart of London shatters U.S. Ambassador Kate Wyler’s world. Struggling to rebuild the lives that broke and the team that split apart, Kate’s worst fears unfold: The attack that brought her to the U.K. didn’t come from a rival nation; it came from inside the British government. As Kate chases the truth, her only real ally is her almost-ex-husband Hal, very much alive, and very much involved.” Adding to the intrigue is a tense visit from Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney), who arrives as Kate’s relationship with Hal and Dennison reaches new levels of complexity.
In another tense scene, Kate faces criticism from her colleague Stuart (Ato Essandoh), who tells her she made a “tactical error, and it was deadly.” Later, Hal warns Kate about the costs of her actions, only to receive an angry rebuke: “Don’t ever say those words to me again.”
As if international crises weren’t enough, the trailer also touches on Kate being eyed as a candidate for vice president of the United States. Stuart, in a moment of frustration, insists over the phone, “She is not a vice president,” before lamenting that she’s “running with scissors right into my staff and me.”
The trailer culminates with Kate and Hal meeting Vice President Grace Penn, whose recent scandal could see Kate replacing her. The tension is palpable, and Hal quickly deduces that Penn knows about the potential power shuffle just by the look on her face.
Series creator Debora Cahn teased in a Tudum interview that Kate’s investigation would challenge the close intelligence-sharing relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.: “The U.S. and the U.K. don’t spy on each other. In fact, they share all their intelligence. So how do you investigate the PM? Who do you trust?” Cahn also highlighted the personal stakes of the season, hinting that everything Kate and Hal thought they knew about each other would be upended.
The Diplomat is executive produced by Keri Russell, Debora Cahn, Janice Williams, Peter Noah, and Alex Graves.
