Netflix had a bonafide hit on its hands with the first season of The Diplomat, leveraging the excellent Keri Russell and a moreish political thriller plot to create some genuinely great TV. If Netflix is going to reign as the best streaming service, it needs this level of quality more often, after all!
Now, the show's almost back for a second season, which will start streaming on 31 October and promises more of the same. In fact, it might even be raising the stakes, as underlined by the explosive trailer Netflix recently uploaded.
It shows that Russell's beleaguered US ambassador to the UK, Kate Wyler, is going to continue to have a fairly tough time of it, not least after living through a bomb attack that nearly claimed the life of her husband (Rufus Sewell). Given how fragile their marriage had been looking even before this test, things are clearly going to get tense between them.
That's contributed to by a cast of other characters vying for her time, attention and suspicion as she continues to slowly uncover murky details about plots at the heart of the UK government that could have major outcomes for the US, too.
This will mean Kate is forced to play her cards close to her chest as she decides who she can trust (if anyone), and the level of pressure is clearly going to escalate, too. We already knew that Allison Janney would be joining the show's cast in a prominent guest role, but now we know who she'll be playing.
That's none other than the Vice President of the United States, which could make for some fairly stressful moments as Kate tries not to tarnish her good name in front of someone who wields serious international power. Against a backdrop of Russian meddling and potentially compromised allies, it's all going to be painted in shades of grey.
Netflix doesn't seem to be planning a staggered or split release for The Diplomat's second season, so fans will be able to binge the whole thing when it arrives on Halloween, which could make for a pretty fun weekend of espionage, intrigue and whip-smart dialogue.
