Actor Keri Russell is set to take part in a new politics-based drama show on Netflix. The star of The Americans will take the lead role on The Diplomat, which has been written by Debora Cahn, the woman behind the likes of The West Wing and Homeland.
Russell stars as Kate Wyler, the newly appointed US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The character is said to have been close to going to Afghanistan and works well in a crisis, but the series will also focus on the difficulty her relationship to a fellow diplomat (Rufus Sewell) faces at her being away on work so often. The series will arrive on April 20th.
Cahn said in a statement on the show (via Comicbook), “[It’s] about the transcendence and torture of long-term relationships. It’s hard to keep a relationship going, be it a marriage or a military alliance. We change, the world changes, and yet we want these relationships to go on forever. It’s a show about a bunch of good people doing their best to keep their global and personal partnerships intact without killing each other.”
She added, “In the world of diplomacy, you’re dealing with a lot of rule-bound, protocol-driven behaviour, but underneath all that, these are people who sweat, and spill coffee on their clothes, and forget the name of the person they’re talking to. All of that is always bubbling under the grandeur and majesty of working with heads of state.”