The Diplomat viewers hear about Todd Penn long before they see him in the political drama’s third season. Like a monster lurking in the shadows, his presence is felt before we even know his first name. Indeed, as far as we know, his actions have been damaging enough to torpedo the political career of his wife, Grace (Allison Janney). 

But when Todd is finally introduced in Season 3, he’s actually far from frightening (and, by the end of Episode 1, married to the president.) Played by three-time Emmy winner Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, The Madness, and the upcoming series Death by Lightning), Todd is affable, if awkward, and introduces himself to diplomat Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) during a charged moment as, “Todd Penn, first lady.” Whitford loves that fans immediately get a hint of his sense of humor from that simple, lighthearted intro. “You know right off the bat that the guy does not have what I call an irony deficiency,” the actor tells Tudum. “There’s a reverence in him in this exalted situation that gives him a lot of opportunities [for humor].” 

Watch Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford Discuss The Diplomat Season 3

While he brings levity to tense moments, there’s more to Todd than a well-timed punchline. He’s married to the newly minted president, which means he has made some major sacrifices, including putting his career on hold, and agreeing to go along with the lie that he’d misused an NIH grant in order to cover for Grace’s involvement in the HMS Courageous attack. That fabrication is the reason the audience is wary of Grace’s husband before they meet him. “Todd’s making a big adjustment in his life with not a lot of grace, enthusiasm, or warning,” says Whitford. “What I love about him is he’s clearly not happy about this situation in many different ways, but he is very protective of Grace. I love that marital complication — there’s a genuine need to protect her in these scary circumstances. He can’t help himself, but I love all of his uncomfortable feelings, too.”

Immediately after his punchy entrance, we get to see Grace and Todd together onscreen for the first time. It’s only been a few hours since the president died and chaos ensued. Grace and Todd embrace, and the new president visibly relaxes in her husband’s arms. “I think Grace and Todd have a wonderful relationship,” creator and executive producer Debora Cahn tells Tudum. “That doesn’t mean it’s an easy relationship, and it’s not. It has the same kind of tension that Kate and Hal’s does, but they’ve figured it out in a way that Kate and Hal really never did. There’s still tension and friction around the fact that Grace’s career has really taken up way more space in their lives than either of them would have anticipated early on. But they have come to a more comfortable agreement about how this is going to play out.”

For Janney, “Having the character of Todd come on [means] you get to see … the private-facing Grace, not just the public-facing Grace, and that’s an interesting dynamic to witness in their relationship,” the Oscar and Emmy winner tells Tudum. “There was one scene that Debora [Cahn, creator] wrote that has no dialogue at all, we just behave as a couple. It was such a beautiful scene. You know what their life is.”

That scene takes place toward the end of Season 3’s sixth episode, a playlike installment with impossibly high stakes but also a lot of humor. “Something that feels true about writing like this is that life can be very uncomfortable, and very funny, and the stakes can be high, and very silly things can happen all at once,” says Whitford. 

In Episode 6, there’s a real threat that Grace’s involvement in the carrier attack will come out, so Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) and now-Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) travel to the president’s home in Amagansett, New York, to come up with a plan to conceal the information. Todd is also present and feeling superfluous, swimming endless lengths in the outdoor pool despite the bitter winter temperatures. “Todd is suddenly sidelined and has no sense of usefulness in his own life,” says Whitford. “God knows women have been in [those situations] for a long time, so it’s really fun to have a man go through it. It’s very clear this isn’t easy for him, and there aren’t enough laps to swim in a day to fritter away his frustration with this situation.”

But when the two couples sit down for an afternoon cocktail (or the “oyster extravaganza” as Whitford dubs it, where Todd bleeds on the seafood platter), we see how shrewd, protective and effective the president’s husband can be. “Episode 6 is when the audience gets to experience this guy for the first time in an extended way,” says Whitford. “There’s a curmudgeonly, impossible aspect to this guy, and then you realize that he’s being difficult in the service of protecting her.” Todd thinks the current plan to deal with Grace’s involvement in the carrier attack will likely lead to her impeachment, and he knows Kate believes it too. So he maneuvers the conversation so that Kate gets to say her piece, knowing that Grace will listen — if reluctantly. “That’s where the hot sauce meets the oyster: Todd gets to the point where he’s just like, ‘Let’s stop pretending,’ ” says Whitford. “He has this impulse to go, ‘I’m not crazy, right? Let’s talk about what exactly is going on here.’ ” 

At the end of the long, anxiety-inducing day, tensions are still high. We see Grace and Todd getting ready for bed without really talking, clearly not on the best terms, but still going to sleep holding hands. “It’s a beautiful human, nonverbal scene about marriage,” says Whitford. “And that tells me it’s a really good marriage. It may not be easy, but they end up needing each other and helping each other. An essential part of every moment of this show is this metaphor of navigating not only international diplomacy but [also] diplomacy with the person you have to make love to and brush your teeth next to.”

That intimacy came easily to Whitford and Janney, who have known each other for decades: They worked together for seven seasons on The West Wing, and they’ve maintained a close friendship. “During filming, we were standing by the presidential motorcade, and I turned to Allison and I said, ‘We have no range as actors, because here we are, back in the White House,’ ” Whitford jokes. “But truly, Allison means a lot to me. When I met her on The West Wing, she was this ringer from the theater that nobody knew about, and watching her become the Allison Janney that everybody knows was an incredible joy. She’s been a goal for me. Anytime I can be around her, I’m very happy.”

But as the season goes on, and the president grows closer to her vice president, the Penns’ relationship is strained. Grace and Hal have a professional dynamism, they’re propulsive together, and — perhaps worst of all for Todd — they share a sense of humor. “Clearly it’s getting to him,” says Whitford. “It’s a very weird position to go into the service of the other person in the relationship, to take on the tambourine and stay in the background. It’s a very tricky position to be in where there’s the threat of someone being taken away, where you’re watching someone who you’re deeply in love with being fulfilled and titillated by someone else. There’s a little bit of paranoia and childishness going on, [like a] dog in the dog park, ‘Pet me, why are you petting that dog?’ ”

So Todd tries to bond with Kate over what he describes as being “a foot and a half away from the epicenter of the world but you still can’t get there.” Russell thinks Todd and Kate could be allies, “but they’re not quite there yet.” It’s awkward, and Kate, initially, doesn’t believe they’re in the same position, though she perhaps should be concerned about the Grace and Hal’s “extremely productive working relationship,” as Todd puts it. “He’s sort of saying, ‘You know what I'm going through,’ in an uncomfortable way,” says Whitford. “I don’t think he has any idea of the complexities of that, really. I don't think he understands the undercurrents in Kate and Hal’s relationship. He’s basically, without her asking, saying, ‘We’re going through the same thing, right? Let’s bond.’ And what a weird guy to bond with.”

See that weird guy in action in Season 3 of The Diplomat, streaming now.