NEED TO KNOW
There’s a “constitutional crisis” in the latest look at season 3 of The Diplomat. And according to Keri Russell, Allison Janney’s new president isn’t making things any easier.
On Thursday, Sept. 18, Netflix released the official trailer for the forthcoming season of its hit political thriller. While a previously released teaser already hinted at rising tensions as Janney’s Grace Penn became commander-in-chief at the end of the show’s second season, its trailer now establishes that Russell’s Ambassador Kate Wyler is doing what she can to prevent “something apocalyptically dumb” from taking place.
The new season, which is set to premiere on Oct. 16 on the streamer, also stars Bradley Whitford as Grace’s husband, First Gentleman Todd Penn, and Rufus Sewell as Kate’s husband, Hal.
Courtesy of Netflix
The trailer kicks off after trouble brews in both in Washington, D.C. and in London following the dramatic end to season 2, as people learn that former U.S. ambassador Hal was on the phone with the now-late president at the time of his death — all while Grace takes the reins in the Oval Office. “A terribly flawed woman is now the president,” Kate says in the footage. “And only we know just how flawed.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, Kate is tasked with the “opportunity” to be in the White House and keep an eye on the new president “all the time.”
“I’m not walking around in the middle of a constitutional crisis with a resumé stapled to my forehead,” she quips.
The remainder of the footage teases romance, secrets, suspense, as well as a warning from Kate that the president “is about to do something apocalyptically dumb” — as “catastrophic” information potentially makes its way out. “When all the facts are on the table, I don’t look so bad,” Grace says at one point, before being told, “respectfully,” that she looks “very bad.”
Courtesy of Netflix
The Diplomat season 3 was first announced in October, three weeks before season 2 even premiered. Showrunner and executive producer Debora Cahn told Tudum said that the latest installment “flips the chessboard,” as Kate lives “the particular nightmare that is getting what you want.”
The season picks up after Kate “accused Vice President Grace Penn of hatching a terrorist plot and admitted she’s after the VP’s job,” per an official synopsis.
“But now the President is dead, Kate’s husband Hal may have inadvertently killed him, and Grace Penn is leader of the free world.”
Janney, 65, previously told PEOPLE she was “so happy” when Cahn suggested Whitford to play her onscreen husband. “I just thought it was the best idea ever,” she said, after starring as colleagues in The West Wing for seven years.
“We have a bedroom scene, and I told Brad about it. I was like, ‘Okay. We’re just going to … We can do this. We can handle it,'” she said. “It’s so hilarious that we’re going to be doing this together, but I couldn’t love it more. It’s perfect. It’s the perfect way to reunite these two in this political drama.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Diplomat season 3 premieres Oct. 16 on Netflix.
