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The following article contains major spoilers for The Diplomat season 2.
Lightning rarely strikes twice—which makes the success of The Diplomat season 2 all the more remarkable. Its first outing was an out-of-nowhere hit for Netflix back in early 2023, blasting its way into the pop culture mainstream thanks to its quick quick-witted dialogue, entertaining characters, and wild plot twists. Its second leans even further into everything that made the first so great, from its breakneck pacing to the sizzling chemistry of leads Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell. All that and Allison Janney as a featured guest star too! Sophomore slump? Never heard of her.
But while the first season of The Diplomat ended with a literal bang in the form of a deadly car bomb, its second concludes with a twist that’s likely to be just as explosive when it comes to the future of the show going forward.
Here’s a rundown of the big reveals from the season 2 finale and what they might mean for where The Diplomat season 3 might go, with a few key tidbits from some of the show’s cast.
Who Ordered the HMS Courageous Bombing?
The big mystery of The Diplomat thus far has revolved around the bombing of the British warship HMS Courageous. The terrorist attack kicked off the whole show and was the primary reason that Kate Wyler (Russell) was reassigned to London as ambassador in the first place, after all. In the season 1 finale, it certainly looked as though British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) was behind the attack, presumably in an attempt to burnish his poll numbers and hold on to power. And, let’s be honest, most of his behavior during season 2 bore that particular conspiracy theory out—from his decision to have the Russian spy Lenkov killed to his obsessive determination to track down Tory operative Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie), who helped spearhead the false flag attack in the first place. The man just really comes off as shady, is what I’m saying. (Sorry, Rory Kinnear, it’s just your vibe I guess!)
But, as with so many things in this show, the truth turns out to be much more complicated than it initially appears. Yes, the call was very much coming from inside the house when it came to the bombing of the Courageous—Roylin, along with the late MP Merrit Grove (Simon Chandler) and several other traditionalist hardliners within the U.K. government coordinated the event in an attempt to prevent another vote on Scottish independence. But they didn’t come up with the idea on their own. The suggestion was initially made by U.S. Vice President Penn (Janney). She’s desperate to keep the Scottish nuclear base at Creegan open, as it’s the only place American nuclear submarines can refuel. Were Scotland to choose to leave the U.K., the base would most likely be closed—the Scots hate both nuclear weapons and English overreach—a move which would cost the U.S. a valuable asset and risk putting thousands if not millions of lives in danger.
By giving all of the U.K. a common “enemy” to unite against, the bombing was intended to quell some of the loudest voices agitating for another independence referendum, boost Trowbridge’s popularity by cheerleading nationalist unity, and prevent Northern Ireland and Wales from following in Scotland’s rebellious footsteps. It was also meant to take place when the ship was largely empty so no one would get hurt. That didn’t happen, and it’s to her credit that Penn feels some degree of genuine sorrow over the men who died. (That’s not the same thing as having regrets about doing it in the first place, mind. But it’s not nothing either.)
Because Penn orchestrated all this without telling the U.S. president—technically treason, after all—Kate’s convinced she can’t remain in power, and it’s the final push she needs to admit she’d like to be vice president herself.
Will Kate Get to Be Vice President?
It was revealed Kate Wyler was on the shortlist to take over as Vice President in the Rayburn administration fairly early in The Diplomat’s first season, and many of those closest to her, including both her husband Hal (Sewell) and her right-hand man Stuart (Ato Essandoh), have consistently encouraged her to embrace the idea. But Kate has been largely resistant to their plans, even as it has become increasingly obvious throughout season 2 that she didn’t exactly hate the prospect as much as she might have initially claimed to.
But while the revelation that Grace Penn was behind the idea for the British government to stage an attack on its own people may be the final push that Kate needs to accept the idea that she could be chosen as VP, much of the finale is about her coming to terms with the fact that it’s something she actually wants. She’s spent most of season 2 insisting it’s not, arguing that the prospect of her stepping into the role is about everything from saving global democracy to assuaging Hal’s blatant personal ambition. But while those things can be (and most likely are) true, if she truly didn’t want to be part of all of this, she wouldn’t have been quite so open to being talked into it.
After all, she takes Grace Penn’s advice about how to improve her public image to heart when it’s offered, and although she’s constantly sniping at Hal’s comments about the role, it’s often more about finding a reason to blame him for the situation they’ve found themselves in rather than looking inward and reckoning with her own wants. But after yet another Wyler marital argument, Kate finally realizes that her desire to be Vice President isn’t about Hal’s scheming or Grace’s treachery, but simply that she wants to job. It feels like a fairly pivotal moment for her (and for her marriage, given how often the two have been fighting about this), but we sadly don’t get to bask in the prospect of Kate Wyler, open political schemer for very long.
What Happened to President Rayburn?
In what is potentially the wildest twist The Diplomat has pulled off yet—and on this show that is saying a lot—season 2 ends with embattled VP Grace Penn suddenly becoming President of the United States after President Rayburn dies. And, because this is The Diplomat, this turn of events is..mostly Hal Wyler’s fault.
Hal and Kate had decided to tell the Secretary of Defense about Vice President Penn’s involvement with the plot to attack a British warship in the name of protecting American access to a nuclear base. Their hope is that it will solidify the president’s decision to push Penn out of her job—he’s waffling in the wake of how much Prime Minister Trowbridge wants to work with her on other things— and install Kate in her place.
But Hal, concerned that the Secretary of Defense will somehow make the issue of Penn’s vaguely treasonous behavior all about himself and his own position, decides to go straight to the top, and calls Rayburn instead. Disaster ensues: The president gets so upset at this revelation of Grace’s betrayal that he literally drops dead during the call, meaning it’s President Penn now, and all bets about what happens next are off.
Naturally, this all occurs just as Kate finally tells Grace that she’s serious about coming for her job, which means that her professional relationship with the new president is not exactly starting in the strongest place. (Not kidding, the pair’s conversation is interrupted by a panicked call from Hal and a sudden swarm of new Secret Service agents racing to Penn’s side. It probably could not have started worse.) Yes, all of this is utterly ridiculous. Does it matter? Not really. It’s great TV.
The Diplomat has already been renewed for season 3, and this makes it plain that the conflict between Kate and Grace will likely be at the center of the show’s story moving forward. It’s unfortunate, given how much the two women seemed to genuinely like and respect one another at various points this season, but it’s hard to believe that Penn won’t try to retaliate against the Wylers in some way now that she’s technically the most powerful person in the world. But is she a match for a Kate and Hal who are finally working together? We’ll have to wait and see.
Will Prime Minister Trowbridge Resign?
Who would have ever guessed that after everything that happened in The Diplomat’s first season, we’d all end its second genuinely feeling bad for Nicol Trowbridge? And not for nothing, the guy goes through it in season 2—Kate and Eidra (Ali Ann) enlist some genuinely wild tactics to try and prove he was behind the Courageous bombing, Dennison tries to basically coup his government, and he learns his most trusted advisor orchestrated a treasonous attack on their countrymen behind his back. Yeah, none of this makes this guy any less of a jerk, but there’s a fair distance between “rude dirtbag” and ‘megalomaniacal psycho.” What I”m saying is that a lot of people in the world of The Diplomat probably owe Trowbridge an apology.
Unfortunately, it looks like he might just be forced to step down instead. Both his wife, Lydia (Pandora Colin), and Dennison (David Gyasi)—who seems to have taken over the role of Trowbridge’s most trusted advisor because his options are just that limited by the end of the season—are urging the PM to hang it up. He’s too angry, too close to the investigation into the treachery within his government to be objective, and bordering on unstable at times. (Or at least, so everyone is telling him.) Trowbridge isn’t a fan of this idea, though he doesn’t exactly have a lot of people in his corner at the moment. But if he resigns, who would lead the country? One of the guys who just tried to push Trowbridge out?
Maybe. The obvious choice would seem to be Dennison, given that he’s already fairly highly placed in government, wasn’t part of the whole treason thing, and seems to have suddenly become fairly close to Trowbridge—though that may be more out of guilt than anything else. But is he the right man for the job?
“It would perhaps make a lot of sense for Dennison [to be PM], but maybe he’s too emotional for the job. I don’t know,” David Gyasi, who plays Foreign Secretary Dennison tells Den of Geek. “He’s in a state where he’s just questioning what things mean. He was ready to burn it all down.”
It’s hard to imagine The Diplomat jettisoning star Rory Kinnear, whose character has had such a great, entertainingly combative relationship with nearly every one of the series’ major players. (Plus, it’s obvious Kinnear is having a ball chewing the scenery!) But anything’s possible on this show.
The State of Kate and Hal’s Union
While the major stories of The Diplomat revolve around complex geopolitical issues and goals, the heart of the series remains firmly grounded in the relationship at its center. Hal and Kate Wyler have been through a lot over the course of both the series and their marriage. That they genuinely love one another is evident, but their relationship also comes with a healthy dose of competition and dysfunction. In season 1, Kate insisted that their marriage was over for real this time, and even came thisclose to having an affair with Dennison. But her plans to sleep with him were interrupted by the car bomb that closed the season, an event that killed two people and seriously wounded several others, including Hal.
While this is likely not the first life-threatening event the Wylers have weathered together, Hal’s near-death experience does seem to change things in fairly significant ways. Whether that’s because the event was a catalyst for Kate to realize that she can’t live without whatever their weird situation is, or Netflix decided The Diplomat doesn’t work without the crackling chemistry of the stars at its center, the show spends most of season 2 reasserting the strength of the Wylers’ partnership and allowing their bond to do a little healing right alongside Hal.
The pair still work wonderfully together, and the chemistry between Russell and Sewell remains unmatched, whether they’re bantering over breakfast, literally physically fighting one another, or tag-teaming a source with secrets so dangerous Kate can’t even be allowed to know the truth of them. Most interestingly, perhaps, we also see Kate wrestling with how willing she’s been to blame or punish her husband for trying to protect her or displaying the same ambition she’s been quietly harboring in herself. Is this growth for them?
Maybe. The pair certainly seem stronger than we’ve ever seen them by the time the final credits roll. Of course, they’ve also just accidentally sort of killed a president and given a political rival tremendous power over both their political and personal futures, which is pretty hard to beat, as bonding activities go. Let’s put it this way: They’re definitely not getting divorced anymore, if only for the protection of spousal privilege.
What About Kate and Dennison?
No matter how strong the Wylers’ marriage seems to be at the moment, let’s not forget that at the end of The Diplomat season 1, Kate seemed more than ready to finally act on her attraction to Dennison. (She even tells Hal as much when he asks.) But now, thanks to Hal almost dying and the fallout from the almost-coup against Trowbridge, things between the two have noticeably cooled. In fact, Dennison even says that everything that has happened between them—both personally and professionally—was a “mistake”. But are things really over between the two?
“Look, I think it feels like they’re saying ‘It’s over. It’s over,’” Gyasi says. “But I think their eyes are saying something else. What’s underneath is saying something else. And that makes it really fun in a scene where you’re talking about foreign policy to still have that energy between one another.”
Granted, both the Wylers and Dennison have bigger problems going on than romance at the moment, what with the uncertain future of Trowbridge’s government and the fact that Hal and Kate know about America’s involvement in the Courageous bombing. But it certainly feels like there’s more than a bit of unfinished business between these two, of both the romantic and professional varieties.
Is There Any Hope for Stuart and Eidra’s Relationship?
Technically, the clandestine workplace romance between Kate’s Deputy Chief of Mission Stuart Hayford, and CIA station chief Eidra Park ended last season. Their break-up was the result of many things: secrets, emotional unavailability, different ideas of what the future might hold for each of them, and conflicting ideas about whether they ought to go public about their relationship. But in the wake of the car bomb that badly injured Stuart, it certainly seemed as though his almost dying might have softened Eidra toward him a little. (There’s no doubt that she still cares is what I’m saying.)
But, there’s also the problem that Stuart simply cannot seem to stop talking about their relationship—the reasons it ended, the fact that he wants to get back together, what Eidra’s behavior says about her as a person—and it ends up pushing his ex even further away. This is understandable, given that he keeps bringing it up at work or professional functions, which require Eidra to behave and appear in certain ways.
“I think Eidra’s used to keeping her professional life and her personal life very separate. And I think the issue she’s having is Stuart keeps crossing that line,” Ali Ahn, who plays Eidra, says. “She puts a boundary down and he keeps insisting. So that’s not making him look too good, I don’t think. She’s fine to keep working with Stuart, but I think she feels disrespected because if the roles were reversed and a woman was approaching a man at his workplace and being all ‘Can we talk about our relationship?’ I don’t know that it would be received very well.”
By the end of season 2, Stuart finally seems to have gotten the message that he needs to ease up and give Eidra some space. (And possibly respect the very clear lines she’s drawn around their relationship for the moment.) But does that mean they’re over forever?
“I think that’s a good question. And I don’t know,” Ahn says. “But It’s great fun to play that relationship, and when the scenes between them come up, I just get lost in them. They’re gorgeous. And Ato [Essandoh, who plays Stuart] is a wonderful scene partner.”
Given that this show largely revolves around a central couple with a complicated bond who can’t quite seem to quit one another even when one of them says they want to, it seems like a fairly guess that The Diplomat’s not quite done with these two yet.
All six episodes of The Diplomat season 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.
The post The Diplomat Season 2 Ending Explained: Unpacking the Show’s Biggest Twist Yet appeared first on Den of Geek.
