When Season 4 of Debora Cahn’s The Diplomat opens, Kate and Hal Wyler’s marriage faces the ultimate test: an act of deep betrayal. For the Wylers, the breach of trust involves a nuclear weapon stolen from the Russians — typical kitchen-sink drama fare. “We pick up straight after that very edgy and shocking cliffhanger where we see, from Kate’s perspective, that [Hal has] been very nefarious,” says Rufus Sewell, Emmy-nominated for his Season 3 portrayal of Hal opposite fellow nominee Keri Russell as Kate.
The third season unsettled the power dynamic between the couple: Hal was chosen by President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) to be her vice president and moved permanently to Washington, DC, while Kate remained in her role as the US ambassador to the United Kingdom in London. When Hal used information from Kate to aid Penn in covertly recovering a nuke from a Russian submarine off the coast of the UK, it left the couple’s union fractured. “It’s such a launchpad, to be in such a vulnerable position with [Hal] and then have that realization that they’ve not only gone behind [Kate’s] back, but used her to get what they needed. [It] feels just completely shocking,” says Russell, who received the Actor Award for her work in Season 3.
The first episode of Season 4 picks up in the minutes after Kate’s shocking discovery, and Cahn provided the actors with a 16-page feast of dialogue digging into the drama. “Knowing what [Keri] is able to do, the ceiling is very high, which means that I can push the writing a lot further,” says Cahn. Adds executive producer Janice Williams, “Without Rufus and the caliber that he brings as the scene partner, it doesn’t matter what Keri can do, it doesn’t work — because it’s a dialogue.” On set, the actors rely on the trust they’ve built over the course of the previous propulsive seasons. “I don’t even worry about how [Keri] will do it,” says Sewell. “I go prepared to play around, and she’s the same, and we have tremendous fun.”
Even after such a monumental breakdown in trust, Kate and Hal manage to find a way through. “They start in this really fractured place, and they stay in the room, and they say these really shitty things, and they work it out, and they fight,” says Russell. It is this ability to work through their grievances, or at least leave them behind for the greater good, that makes the Wylers such a compelling couple to watch — and to play. “Everything that you might see as the problems of their relationship is so tied up with what is great about their relationship; it’s very hard to separate them,” says Sewell. “Deb just has an innate understanding and love for that in them. And I don’t think there’s much to be seen on television these days, or ever, that examines that stage of a long-term relationship in such detail and with such honesty.”
What binds Kate and Hal together, and what brings their marriage to a new state of equilibrium, is their desire to harness power without sacrificing morality. “As tumultuous as people perceive Kate and Hal’s relationship to be, they have the same goal,” says Russell. “They want to be in the room effecting change. They’re very altruistic.” While in the first three seasons Kate wielded power and Hal waited in the wings, in Season 4 they navigate their new hierarchy and what it means for Kate to play the dutiful wife. “For the first time, Hal is truly in that room. I think Kate goes out of her comfort zone to try to help nurture and support him in that moment,” says Russell. “Even though there are things that might be uncomfortable for her, out of her comfort zone, she’s going to try.”
Kate does try, and the couple’s electric chemistry wins out, even as President Penn charts a path neither Kate nor Hal has confidence in — one that could put the US at war with the UK. Kate ultimately has to uphold her principles, even though it means keeping secrets from Hal and risking her own power. At the G7 summit, in front of the international delegation, Kate resigns and walks out. And without relaying her intentions, Hal and Kate are on the same page, and he follows suit. “Whatever this is, whatever it is between us, I’m so glad he made the right choice,” says Russell of Hal’s decision to follow Kate into the light. “It says that no matter what they’ve been through, no matter where their relationship is now, they just are in sync with what each other thinks,” adds Sewell.
The season ends on yet another cliffhanger, with the ramifications of both the president’s plan and the Wylers’ public actions yet to unfold. For a season that opened in the aftermath of a stolen nuke, anything is possible. But one thing is certain: Kate and Hal are up for the challenge. As Sewell says, “Whether they’re together, whether they’re apart, whether it’s a divorce, whether it’s a reconciliation, whether it’s new partners, whether it’s a ménage à trois, it’s an interesting shock.”
Stream all four seasons of The Diplomat now.
