Rufus Sewell Gets Real About The Diplomat Season 3’s Power Games 🔥
“He’s trying to play backup singer — but he’s not built for it,” the actor teases, reflecting on the chaos, ambition, and emotional fallout driving the new season.
Netflix’s hit political drama is back, and The Diplomat isn’t holding back any punches. With alliances shifting and egos colliding in London and D.C., every episode feels like a ticking time bomb.
💼 Who’s really in control? And how far will they go to stay there?
FULL STORY BELOW 👇
******************
‘The Diplomat’ star Rufus Sewell on Season 3’s power grab: ‘He’s trying to play backup singer, but he’s not built for it’
The star of Netflix’s hit political drama breaks down the new season’s biggest plot twists
For the first two seasons of The Diplomat, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) had the best of intentions for his wife, Kate’s (Keri Russell), career — even if his efforts often went sideways. Like that epic Season 2 finale, when he may have unintentionally killed the President — shocking Rayburn so badly during a phone call that he triggered a heart attack, thereby promoting Grace Penn (Allison Janney) into the Commander-in-Chief.
In Season 3, the newly anointed President Penn — never a fan of Kate’s — upended the Wylers’ marriage not to mention geopolitical stakes by making Hal her VP and close confidante. The Wylers’ ever-tenuous relationship was that much more distant — literally and figuratively, as Kate remained in London as UK ambassador — and even though they reconciled at season’s end, Grace’s husband, Todd (Bradley Whitford), was quick to point out just how close Grace and Hal have become, especially over the matter of that Russian nuclear sub.
Given all of that marital and political intrigue, Sewell chatted with Gold Derby about why he was afraid of becoming “the annoying comedy uncle,” whether Hal’s intentions are pure, and what’s in store for next season.
Gold Derby: After the shocking cliffhanger of last season, did you know where this season was going to go?
Rufus Sewell: I’d been given a hint, a heads’ up that this was in the cards. I was tremendously excited about it. Because I was thinking, this is great what we’re doing now, but if we keep on going like this, then Hal is in danger of becoming the kind of annoying comedy uncle in the show. There needs, hopefully, to be something that jars and changes and creates a new dynamic for us to play with. Not that we couldn’t have made that work, but for me, that’s what I was hoping for. So when I heard about this, and Keri is the same anything that screws things up we want, and this creates such fantastic trouble. I’m only interested in that in terms of the problems that it brings. I think what happens, and the changing dynamics and the altered status relationships give us so much to play with.
Are Hal’s intentions pure? Is he enjoying the shift in their power dynamics, now that he’s the one with the power?
Hal is very straightforward. He is 100% behind Kate. The story of season one and two is him trying to promote his wife beyond her belief in herself to something that he has always believed she is capable of. His machinations in doing that are deceptive necessarily, you could argue that you need not to scare her with what’s coming. You need to look over here, look over here, look over here, and it’s done. We might not like the sound of it, but it is arguably true. And with him, and I think with her, it’s all about the play. What is the opportunity? What is the door? What is the crack that we can get through? This is a door opening for you. This is an opportunity. My stock is down. I’m radioactive at the moment. You are not. So he always promised that when the time came, he would play backup singer for her. He’s trying to play backup singer. And he’s not built for it. He treads on toes. He accidentally will join in the chorus. But he’s doing that to help her. So these great acts of derring-do usually pull off, and sometimes they don’t. So he gets offered this job, and immediately I think his reaction is, I’m going to do this. I’m probably going to be in trouble, but I’m not going to say yes, unless, while I still have the power to threaten with what I know, they guarantee something extraordinary and life changing and world changing for Kate. So that is his first thing. But that said, he wants to be vice president. Because the whole reason they do this is because they want to do things. They want power. One of the things about Hal is he uses the tricks that normally are in the armory of the bad guys to do what I think is good stuff. So he’s a player in that way, and he’s sneaky, and he’s always got a plan, but actually, he’s her number one fan.
But where the season ends that definitely is thrown into question. Where is his loyalty? Is it with Grace, or is it with Kate?
Oh, I don’t think his loyalty is with Kate or with Grace in that way. As far as I’m concerned, I can’t tell you until I read the next episode. I’ve got to make a guess. I think his loyalty is to the right decision, as far as and the factors that play into what he thinks is the right decision, they could be manifold, but I think the decision that he’s made, or they’ve made together, is arguably the right decision in terms of geopolitics. What he’s done in order to pull it off is very questionable. What are the alternatives? I do not know. It’s certainly a step up in terms of him allowing her to misunderstand something in order to achieve a certain thing. Where this leaves us, I’m very curious about myself, and as I say, like whatever trouble we have in terms of our relationship, bring it on. You don’t want stasis. You don’t want comfort. You want the opposite of real life. You want drama.
It’s a precarious time in their relationship. She had just come back to him. What brought her back to him at that point?
You’d have to ask her.
What do you think?
I wouldn’t tell you. (Laughs.) All I know is that we go through this incredible journey, and, you know, she has her own reasons. Keep watching. I think it’s very important that he wasn’t expecting her to come back. Part of him always hopes, but I think he finally, for the first time, had thought, OK, let’s imagine that this time, this is real, and behave in that way, even if some part of me. I can’t help it, is hoping that or expecting her to come back because she has in the past. Let’s imagine this is real, and try to be helpful and a good guy, and she does not appreciate it at all. She doesn’t, which is often the case with humans. You know, they’re tricky beasts. So I think he’s just about got his head around the fact that this is real. And I think they’ve been an on, off, in, out thing for so many years that it’s become part of a pattern.
One of the scenes that broke my heart this season was when Hal came to London to surprise her and he realizes that she’s been having this affair. He’s a buffoon, but you feel so bad for him.
He can see it in her eyes, You say he’s a buffoon, but he’s quite a smart buffoon. It’s lovely to get those opportunities. I long for those scenes where he loses, where he gets hurt, where you see because he does. He’s very feeling, But a lot of him is presentational, handling the room, but underneath all the time is this thing. And I really do appreciate the chances to tap into that. So these were scenes that I really look forward to, because it’s just a matter of seeing something between them in that split second that he hasn’t seen before. Because it’s not about faithfulness, it’s not about having a side piece. In this case, he sees a different look in her, he’s seen something that used to be for him, and I think it’s just immediate. So I appreciate what you say. I love the opportunities to kind of pull the rug from under him like that.
Where do you want to see the show go from here? What do you expect?
I don’t like getting what I ask for. It’s the same with casting. I like something to come out of the blue. This is something me and Keri often say, is the DNA, the thing of it that we love between the two of us. There’s this genre that I didn’t know called the comedy of divorce, which is the kind of Preston Sturgis screwball kind of thing about people who are apart but together and connected. We just want stuff to be thrown at us, whether it is final divorce, getting back together, other lovers, whatever, there’s nothing I’m trying to protect. Let the destruction be the story, whatever it is. I think we’re very excited. I’ll probably regret saying that out loud, but bring it on.
And if he had to choose between his marriage and his career, what do you think he would choose?
It depends what form that marriage took in that moment. There’s so many different versions of either of those, and there’s cheesy versions of either of those, which I don’t think [showrunner] Debora Cahn] would be capable of. But no, I have no preference. I’m agnostic.
