Debora Cahn brought ‘The Diplomat’ — set in London — to the small screen nearly two decades after working on ‘The West Wing.’
“I wanted to do in the foreign policy/international relations arena what that show had done with domestic politics and spent 20 years trying to figure out a good way to do it,” Cahn told Awards Focus about ‘The Diplomat’ not happening without ‘The West Wing.’ “It took that long to come up with this.”
The Diplomat follows Ambassadors Kate and Hal Wyler (Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell) after Kate is appointed United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Her husband Hal, a former ambassador himself, is closely tied to the White House—and their marriage is on shaky ground. Late in Season 1, Hal informs Kate that she’s on the shortlist to replace Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney).
Season 2 picks up immediately after Season 1’s explosive London cliffhanger. Kate launches an investigation into the blast that nearly killed Hal but claimed the life of an embassy staffer. As she digs deeper, she uncovers shocking truths about the attack—including evidence that the threat may have come from within. Hal survives, but suffers from PTSD, as seen during the July 4th celebration, and remains Kate’s most trusted ally. She continues the investigation with British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) and even faces a visit from Vice President Penn herself.
The show balances the high-stakes world of diplomacy with compelling character drama. It’s not immune from criticism—London ambassadorships often go to wealthy donors—but Cahn emphasizes that the Wylers are career foreign service officers, seasoned in crisis zones. Season 1’s terrorist attack is what propels Kate’s appointment. Impressively, the production has filmed in real locations when possible, using credible stand-ins when necessary.
Seasons 1 and 2 of ‘The Diplomat’ are now streaming on Netflix. Season 3 is currently in post-production, and Netflix has announced a fourth season renewal.
Awards Focus: I was a bit late to watching ‘The Diplomat’—having binged both seasons days apart in early May—but I couldn’t stop watching the episodes. In hindsight, I’m glad I waited because I couldn’t imagine watching the season one finale and having to wait months to find out what happened.
Debora Cahn: That makes me very happy to hear. I am very happy to hear. Well, we are excited for what’s coming next. I’m excited about season three. I’m excited for you to see it.
AF: The thing that I still can’t believe is how you all were given access to the real places in many situations.
Cahn: Yeah. It was a real thrill in London, the kind of places that they were willing to let us film. We filmed at the real embassy. We filmed outside the gates of the real residence. They wanted us to film inside the real residence, but they didn’t realize that that would mean we’d be there for five months. (Laughs) So eventually, they pulled back on that one.
Shooting at St. Paul’s was incredible. We were there for four days. I think we filmed there more than anyone has ever filmed there. They were really wonderful and it’s an amazing building and it’s amazing—sorry, I was just going to say something that was not interesting. (Laughs)
Anyway, it was very cool, Danielle.
AF: When it came to filming scenes at the embassy, how did that work? Was it during office hours or after hours?
Cahn: It’s very, very complicated. It was during the work day. Getting all of the equipment and 150 crew members in through the embassy gates takes about three hours by the time you’ve done all of the security clearing. They very graciously allowed us to come and film.
We booked a date six months ahead and then unexpectedly, the Secretary of State flew through London on the way home from a trip to China. We were there and he was there on the same day, which was, we’re a lot to handle and he’s a lot to handle for the embassy. Both at the same time was pretty intense.
But he came and hung out on the set. It was lovely. It was really nice. It was great to get to spend some time with him.
Secretary Blinken is one of the people that we spoke to when I was first researching the show and he was very helpful. It was nice to be able to sort of show him this thing that he had helped inspire.
AF: I’m something of a political junkie myself, so I’m curious as if you factored in the criticism from foreign service workers about what you all got right and what you all got wrong. My understanding is that acting ambassadors are usually the career foreign service officers while the nominated ones tend to be wealthy donors. The Wylers don’t come off as being the wealthy donor types.
Cahn: No, they are career Foreign Service Officers. They’re the kind of people who are usually ambassadors in conflict zones, and not the kind of people who are usually ambassadors in Europe. We needed a crisis to get that choice made in the beginning of the series, and we did have one.
We’ve tried to be very careful with how we portray the work that these people do, because I’m just a huge fangirl of what they do. I want to get it right whenever possible.
There are certainly some things that we get wrong for dramatic purposes. We skipped over the confirmation process, which I think a lot of people who have to really go through it were bummed about, but then understood that the waiting around for eight months was not good for story so we skipped that one.
But for the most part, there are actually some videos that the embassy made about what we got right, and what’s different. Those are really fun. I think the embassy had a good time making those.
AF: Now that characters have been developed, how did it differ working with this cast on season 2 compared to the process from season 1?
Cahn: Season one is kind of the tax that you pay in order to get to season two and beyond because the joy of writing for television is that you know who you’re writing for. You’ve already introduced the characters, you’re not doing a lot of exposition to try and explain what this world is. The audience knows, the actors know, everybody sort of knows where we’re at and you get to go in so much deeper, particularly in the relationships between the characters.
When you’re able to talk about a relationship for eight hours and then another six and then another eight, you’re really able to kind of get past what are the surface conflicts that they go through, what are the surface challenges that they go through in this relationship, and really start to get into what makes the marriage hard over the long haul because you’re in it for the long haul with these characters.
AF: I did appreciate how the second season didn’t ignore the PTSD, especially during the July 4th celebration.
Cahn: Yeah. Yeah, it’s real. As you know, these people are targets. Conflict zone or no conflict zone, you’re walking into a building every single day that’s often targeted.
AF: With previously working on ‘The West Wing,’ what was it like getting to work with Allison Janney again?
Cahn: Absolute dream come true. Absolute dream come true. After the first season, I met with some of our great creative executives at Netflix and they were like, Do you want to bring somebody in? We can hire a great actor now that the show is out and people know what it is and they’re excited about it. I was like, Are you talking about stunt casting? Because I hate stunt casting. I don’t like stunt casting. I think the audience is always watching the actor. They’re not watching the character. That’s not something that I want to do.
Jenny Howe from Netflix leaned in and said, So if we got Allison Janney, you don’t want her on the show? I was like, Oh my G-d! I think I slid under the table to genuflect my apology to Jenny. I was like, Yeah, please! Yeah, it was pretty exciting. It was pretty exciting.
It was great to get to make that call and be like, Hey, would you be interested in coming? Do you think this is the kind of thing you want to do?
She was excited and I was excited. She came in and everybody was nervous. I was nervous. Alex Graves—who’d worked with her and with me before on ‘The West Wing’—he was nervous. Keri was nervous. Allison was nervous. There was this sort of everybody wanting to impress everybody moment in the beginning.
And then 15 minutes in, it was just a lot of laughter and everybody having a really good time. It was great to see those two actresses getting to work with each other, game likes game kind of thing.
AF: Much like season one, I did not expect season two ending in the way that it did with yet another cliffhanger with the previous president dying and now Allison’s character is the new president. How are these events going to shape the third season now that we’ve solved the major plot point of the terrorist attack?
Cahn: I wanted to put us in a situation that was gonna flip every dynamic on the board because they have established these relationships where Kate has a feeling about who this vice president is. She finally meets her, gets to know her, and it kind of changes her perspective. They have a meeting of the minds. This is the mentor that Kate always really wanted.
But then once she understands what Grace did, she feels like, yeah, I gotta take this woman down. She shouldn’t be in office.
I wanted to, at that moment, when you really feel like you can’t support somebody for another second, what’s a situation that we can put both of the characters in where you have to simply accept the flaws of this person and move forward.
What you thought was a deal breaker can no longer be a deal breaker. Now you just go on.
AF: I know that season 4 was just announced, but where do things currently stand on season 3 and is it going to continue this tradition of ending on a cliffhangers.
Cahn: I don’t know. I’m not able to answer that question on the grounds that it might ruin your experience of viewing season three, but we finished filming and we’re in post-production. We’re editing right now. I’m excited. It’s nice how it’s coming together.
It was great to work with Allison. It was great to get to really deepen that character and it’s fun to have created a character for her.
I think I had some nerves in the beginning that was she gonna be CJ Cregg on this show or were we gonna be able to make it significantly different. And of course, as I should have known, she came in with a completely new person that has a very, very different flavor about her.
It was just great to be able to really get to know that character and see what her relationship with Kate turned into.
AF: At what point in the process did you all decide on Bradley Whitford joining the cast to play her husband and have this other ‘West Wing’ easter egg, so to speak?
Cahn: (Laughs) Have we announced that?
AF: There was a first look image.
Cahn: Was there?
AF: Yeah.
(Her publicist also confirmed that it was released.)
Cahn: Okay, great. Thank you. In that case, yeah, of course, it’s amazing to bring in Brad.
As soon as we knew that we needed to see her husband, we thought, I mean, how amazing would it be? We talked to her and we said, We need somebody to play your husband. Would it be weird if we brought in Brad? And she was like, Oh my G-d, it would be a dream come true–and it was.
The two of them are amazing together. The four of them—Allison, Brad, Rufus, and Keri—we have some scenes in season three where the four of them are together and it’s just absolutely delicious.
It’s another situation where you’re watching these actors—the crew is applauding after blocking rehearsal. (Laughs) We did this one big scene between the four of them and we finished the blocking rehearsal and suddenly the whole place breaks out into applause. It’s not something that happens every day so that was fun.
AF: Speaking of ‘The West Wing,’ did working on that series inspire the diplomat in some form?
Cahn: Absolutely. I wanted to do in the foreign policy/international relations arena what that show had done with domestic politics and spent 20 years trying to figure out a good way to do it. It took that long to come up with this.
AF: I know that when some creators come up with an idea for a series, they already know how it’s going to end. Is this the same case here?
Cahn: I have an ending that I am happy about and excited about. If a better idea comes up, I am happy to dump mine and go in a different way. What’s nice about TV is that you’re writing a long enough story that it takes on its own life. At a certain point, you’re not really controlling the narrative in the way that you do with something that’s a two-hour film. I’m still moving toward that target, but I’m always happy to be sent in another direction and that has happened many times already on the series.
AF: Yeah. Being a creative writer myself, I know the feeling.
Cahn: Right?
AF: Yeah.
Cahn: It’s good to have a goal, but hey, if the detour is more interesting, then that becomes the road.
AF: It’s been so nice getting to chat this afternoon.
Cahn: Thank you. Thank you.