Netflix has set October 15 as the premiere date for The Diplomat Season 4 and released the first teaser trailer alongside first-look photos from the upcoming eight-episode season.
The teaser opens with Kate Wyler making her intentions clear. “I’m not trying to get out of the marriage, I’m trying to get back in,” Keri Russell’s ambassador says. “We do high highs and really low lows. The fights are gonna be spicy.” Rufus Sewell’s Hal responds with the weight of someone who has been here before. “You can’t keep doing this to me.” The two are later shown exchanging vows in what appears to be a church, with Kate pledging to stand by Hal through “worse and worse and worse.” Hal’s response: “Are you sure?”
The personal stakes are matched by the geopolitical ones. Season 4 picks up after the Season 3 cliffhanger in which Kate discovered that Hal and President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney, had secretly stolen a Russian nuclear weapon. Kate warns Hal that when the British and Russians find out, both nations will consider it an act of war. The season ends with Hal calling President Penn with three words: “She knows.”
Season 4 finds Kate and first gentleman Todd Penn, played by Bradley Whitford, forming an uneasy alliance to stop the Grace-Hal conspiracy from upending the balance of power both at home and abroad. “This season is built on the foursome that is Kate, Hal, Grace, and Todd,” showrunner Debora Cahn said. “They’re two couples strapped together in one car on a crumbling roller coaster.”
The cast also includes Ato Essandoh, Ali Ahn, Nana Mensah, David Gyasi and Rory Kinnear. Russell, Sewell, Janney and Whitford have all received Emmy nominations for their work on the series, with Russell nominated for outstanding lead actress in every season of the show.
Cahn creates and serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Russell, Janice Williams, Alex Graves, Peter Noah and Eli Attie.
The Diplomat Season 4 premieres October 15 on Netflix.
