“The Diplomat” or “The West Wing?”
Netflix debuted the first teaser for “The Diplomat” Season 3, and it’s a reunion for “West Wing” stars Bradley Whitford and Allison Janney, who play husband and wife in the Netflix drama series.
In the first glimpse at Whitford, who joins Season 3 as the husband of Janney’s Grace Penn, Whitford can be seen embracing Grace after the traumatic events of the Season 2 finale, which saw the president die from a sudden heart attack, making Grace the next president of the U.S.
Grace, Kate (Keri Russell) and Hal (Rufus Sewell) are quickly transported back home to U.S. soil given the president’s death, and eventually meet up with Whitford’s Todd Penn, who has now become the first gentleman of the U.S.
“How was everyone’s stay at the office?” Todd said in the trailer, provoking a glare from Kate.
Though Todd Penn has not been seen on-screen before Season 3, the character’s reputation precedes himself, as Season 1 established that Todd was at the center of a financial scandal after misplacing $6.3 million of an NIH grant. With the Wall Street Journal digging into the scandal, the word amongst the top White House officials was that Grace would have to resign over it, leaving an opening for VP — which Kate was intended to potentially fill.
Just as Kate wrapped her head around the potential to become VP, however, the game changed again with the president’s death.
The official loglie for Season 3 is as follows: Ambassador Kate Wyler (Russell) lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want. She just accused Vice President Grace Penn (Janney) of hatching a terrorist plot and admitted she’s after the VP’s job. But now the President is dead, Kate’s husband Hal (Sewell) may have inadvertently killed him, and Grace Penn is leader of the free world. None of this slows Hal’s campaign to land Kate the vice presidency. Kate steps into a role she never wanted, with a freedom she never expected, an increasingly complicated friendship with Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), and an unnerving bond with First Gentleman Todd Penn (Whitford).
“The Diplomat” will return for Season 4 this fall.