Keri Russell Reveals What About 'The Diplomat' Got Her to Return to TV

Keri Russell plays U.S. Ambassador Kate Wyler in new Netflix series, 'The Diplomat'.

After playing Russian agent Elizabeth Jennings on The Americans for six seasons, Keri Russell was in no hurry to return to series TV. In fact, she was enjoying roles in films like Cocaine Bear, Antlers and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. But then The Diplomat came along, and it was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Debora Cahn, who wrote this, has created this interesting exploration of this political army that is the State Department and the whole world of diplomacy that we just really don’t know that much about,” she told Parade. “The minutia of all the etiquette, the hierarchy, the acronyms of all of those departments mixed in with her specific brand of humor is really what I love. There was this quality in this character that she created who was so smart, but uncomfortable in this funny way. I just really liked it.”

So, Russell packed up her bags and headed to Europe to film the eight-episode series in which she plays Kate Wyler, the new U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Originally slated to head to a crisis zone in Afghanistan—Kate’s great in a crisis zone, she instead finds herself thrown into the political deep end in London as she tries to make allies, diffuse international crises, and survive her marriage to political golden boy Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell).

“Hal drives her crazy,” Russell says of her TV husband. “That’s the tricky dance of this marriage that Debora has written. He’s a total political star. He’s one of those people that is just shiny. Specifically, a lot of men in politics, they just are. They’re kind of larger than life, like a Bill Clinton or a Richard Holbrooke. They are easy and shiny and charming and big, and they like to be looked at.”

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Kate, however, is none of those things. She’s sharp as a tack, she’s a hard worker, she has great ideas, and she’s driven, but she shies away from the limelight. She also has a sense of integrity that Hal doesn’t have, which sometimes puts them at odds.

“That’s the fun dance of this character,” Russell continues. “She’s always been the beta of the equation, the backup. Now, she’s being thrust to the front. It’s easy to criticize and be in that back position and go, ‘This is what this person didn’t do.’ It’s hard to be in the spotlight. There’s this whole other thing that you must do well and gracefully. Hal does it so easily and Kate finds it painfully difficult and uncomfortable. I think she wants to do it well, but he’s such a loud, distracting force in her life, and she’s trying to figure out if she can do it with him around.”

During our conversation, Russell also talked about how Cahn, who was also a writer on The West Wing and Homeland, found humor in Kate’s struggles to fit in, male nudity, and if she’s up for a second season.

Kate is often the smartest woman in the room. How much does she acknowledge and accept that?

I think that’s a big part of it. There’s an episode where there’s a chair that doesn’t quite fit the size of her. There were so many times making this that I thought of my girlfriends who are in these big-time jobs, big-time law firms, big-time advertising firms. What it’s like to be a woman in those situations? I know we’ve come so far, but there is still a reality to it. She presents that really well. When Kate, who is the ambassador to London, is standing there for about five minutes while the guys are just talking, telling jokes, no one even noticed she walked in. It’s the nature of things. We’re getting there, but I think Debora tells that story really well with humor.

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So many of the scenes between Kate and Hal look so fun. What was it like working with Rufus?

It is so fun. It is like beyond fun. This whole show, I have to say I’m so grateful. It’s a fun time in my life. I feel really grateful. Yes, especially the marriage stuff, the physical stuff, it is delightfully fun.

The couple of love scenes are even like, “Whoa!” We see more of his naked butt than anything of yours.

I feel like that’s Debora. She really is like, “You know what? This is a show about a woman and the guys have to be naked, too.” It’s true.

One of the things that the series does is, like you mentioned, we’re seeing people in positions of power, things that we’re not normally used to seeing. Did you talk to any former ambassadors or current ambassadors to prepare for the role?

I mostly did a lot of reading. We have a lot of contacts in London through the American Embassy there that are very much a part, I feel like, of our show because they’ve told us so much about it and they’ve added into the scripts. We have not met the current American ambassador. She’s there now, but she wasn’t when we were shooting. But I mostly did reading. There’s an incredible book by Paul Richter called The Ambassadors that I really loved. I read a lot about Samantha Power. But Debora met a ton of people and spoke with a lot of people.

One of the things that I loved was Kate has reasons for doing things, like why she wears black suits. But in the very first episode when they sent her to London to be groomed there’s a line about, “This is a woman who needs a haircut.” It made me think, “Have people not gotten over Felicity’s haircut yet? Is that why we have to have that line?”

That’s very funny. That is very funny. I actually think it’s a political term. She needs a haircut, like she needs to be redone a little bit. Like she needs not literally a haircut, but she needs someone to come in and make her over in the political sense.

The end is very shocking—but we won’t say more. No spoilers. Is there a Season 2? Or are you up for a Season 2 if there is one?

I would love it. I am enjoying myself so much on this show. I couldn’t say better things about Debora Cahn and her writing and everyone I’m working with on this project. So, I would love the opportunity to do a second season. Netflix will let us know. Who knows what works and what doesn’t? But I would absolutely love it.

All eight episodes of The Diplomat begin streaming on Netflix today.

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