Sometimes, solving an international crisis is easier than navigating a workplace relationship. 

In The Diplomat, US ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell)’s teammates find themselves in the crossfire of an office romance. Kate’s right-hand man and deputy chief of mission, Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh), may have all the inside knowledge of what’s going down at the White House, but when it comes to his relationship with CIA station chief, Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), he isn’t quite as clued in. 

Then again, even though Eidra’s day-to-day consists of managing the relationship between the CIA and M16, keeping open communications in her romantic relationship seems to present problems.  

Despite their characters’ complicated approaches to love, actors Essandoh and Ahn’s chemistry was infectious when they sat down with Tudum to discuss The Diplomat.

How would you describe Stuart and Eidra’s chemistry? What it was like working alongside each other?
ALI AHN: I’ll tell you what, he’s very easy to work with, so the chemistry just came pretty naturally and instantaneously. 

ATO ESSANDOH: There was no ice-breaking. We were like, “Oh, hey, girl.” “What’s up, bro? OK, let’s do this.” Done. You know what I mean? 

What were your thoughts when you first read the script and what made you want to play your characters?
AHN: Debora Cahn’s writing — you’re like, “What? We get a stab at this?”

ESSANDOH: It was the best thing I’d read in a long time. It’s such a page-turner. What I love about the show is very powerful women are the centerpiece — Keri Russell obviously, Ali’s character, Nana Mensah’s character (Billie Appiah). Physically, they’re smaller people, and so there’s a lot of scenes where you see [them] standing in a forest of men. But  they’re the ones who are running the show really. They’re making the really big decisions and the men are flopping around a little bit, which feels like real life to me because I’m a son, I have a mother, I have aunties and I have female cousins. I realized that that happens all the time.

AHN: Bless Ato because he can hang. Hold my purse. [laughs]

ESSANDOH: Exactly. I am a purse holder. 

The show is full of dialogue and it gets deep into the world of politics. What kind of preparation and research did you do to learn the jargon and all of the different political positions?
AHN: I have a notebook full of questions like, “What is GHC?” I talked to a couple consultants — women who used to work within the CIA and were chiefs of stations. Then I read some memoirs [by] people who lived their life undercover, which were basically things that Eidra would’ve done before she got to this job. 

ESSANDOH: Same kind of deal. I read The Ambassadors [by Robert Cooper], which was a book that Debora Cahn suggested that we read. And then I watched this documentary called The Human Factor, which is about the Israeli-Palestinian accords that the Clinton administration [tried to broker] years ago.

I remember when Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat, and it was a compelling moment. To understand what went into getting that 30-year piece of work to push forward was really emotionally compelling to me. I was watching it and crying, and realizing that the only kind of people that can do something like this are people that really, truly care about humanity and want to make the world a better place.

AHN: You’re so smart.

Ato Essandoh and Debora Cahn.

Alex Bailey/Netflix

What’s it like working with a writer like Debora who has so much experience in this genre?
ESSANDOH: She’s a mad scientist.

AHN: She is. She is such a warm, lovely human being, but she starts to talk, and she might as well be a professor. How much she knows about this world is staggering.

There’s a tense scene in the finale where Stuart and Eidra break up, but they’re both sort of tiptoeing around what they truly want. What was it like filming that?
AHN: That scene is so well-written, but it is so much withholding. It was fun to do it in real time and then to watch it and to remember how I felt watching Ato’s face. It’s a chess game because each thing that rolls out shifts with how the other person is going to respond. Everyone is trying to seem like they don’t care.

ESSANDOH: Oh, man. It was heartbreaking for me. I’m in that scene really feeling this relationship that Ali and I have really built very well — and I’m actually kind of going through it because I’m like, “You don’t want to let your friend down.” But man, it was really easy to play because you’re right in it. You’re like, “I knew this day was coming.”

AHN: But it’s that tricky thing of having all those feelings and then covering them up because both of them are so veiled about it.

What was it like working with Keri Russell?
AHN: She’s so funny. 

ESSANDOH: You need your quarterback to actually care and be there. I’ve never seen anybody work harder than her because she has the most things to say and the most complicated things to say. When I’m acting with her, I hang on her every word. When I’m watching it, I’m like, “Oh, I will go to hell and back with this character.” 

Is it true you got to film some scenes at the real embassy?
AHN: Well, the scene that we had in the embassy got cut, but it’s beautiful. There’s amazing art in there and we were there all by ourselves. I was walking barefoot in the halls of the embassy because I had those Manolos on and it started to hurt. 

ESSANDOH: We’re walking into 1,000-year-old English manors — my favorite part was the one that has Napoleon’s actual table. 

AHN: Yeah, please don’t put your water down on that.

ESSANDOH: There’s something about shooting at locations like that that makes things very easy because you don’t have to imagine anything. We’re not using green screens or trying to juxtapose Vancouver to make it look like New York. We’re actually in England. 

Lastly, what are your thoughts on workplace relationships?
ESSANDOH: Where else are you supposed to meet people? 

AHN: Especially in those jobs, who else is going to understand what you do?

ESSANDOH: But I would rather date a diplomat than an actor because I think that’s less drama.

AHN: Wow. Burn!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Diplomat Season 1 TrailerInternational affairs meet personal affairs. London's newest diplomat has arrived.

The Diplomat is now streaming on Netflix.