‘The Diplomat’ Season 3 Teaser Brings Bradley Whitford Into the Fold

It’s a West Wing reunion on The Diplomat.

The season three teaser, which Netflix dropped today, features the first extended look at Bradley Whitford‘s role as first gentleman Todd Penn, husband to Allison Janney‘s Grace Penn, who viewers learned in the closing moments of season two was on the verge of becoming president after President Rayburn (Michael McKean) died.

In the preview, which reveals that the eight-episode season three will drop this fall, Whitford’s Todd Penn is shown being led into an office before he and his wife hug. The series of short clips also shows Keri Russell‘s Kate Wyler running while on the phone, seemingly in the moments after season two’s jaw-dropping finale, as well as Todd and Kate in a pool together, looking warily across the water. Viewers will also notice that Kate’s vice-presidential hair from season two appears to be gone, at least in the few scenes shown in the teaser.

The teaser ends with the Penns and Kate sitting across from each other enjoying cocktails in a living room-like environment as Todd asks “How was everyone’s day at the office?”

Here’s an official synopsis for season three from Netflix: “In season three of The Diplomat, Ambassador Kate Wyler lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want. She just accused Vice President Grace Penn of hatching a terrorist plot and admitted she’s after the VP’s job. But now the president is dead, Kate’s husband Hal (Rufus 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 recently wrapped his run on The Handmaid’s Tale with the sixth and final season.

The Diplomat season two ended with a shock for viewers and the characters as Hal told Kate over the phone that President Rayburn (Michael McKean) had died after he got so upset when he learned about his vice president’s involvement with the attack on the British warship that launched the series. The moment means that Grace has been elevated to president.

Janney too was surprised, to an unprecedented degree, she revealed.

“I literally threw the script across the room,” she said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last fall, prefacing that remark by noting that she had “never had this happen” previously in her career. “It was like what the? … It is such a spectacular ending, I get chills thinking about it.”

Much like Grace before Janney joined The Diplomat in season two, Todd has been spoken about but not yet seen as viewers learned early in season one that he misplaced part of an NIH grant, creating a scandal that Rayburn’s handlers believed meant Grace would have to step down and that they would need to recruit a new vice president, sizing up Kate for the role.

Production on season three was already underway when season two debuted last fall, shortly before the 2024 election, and Sewell previously told The Hollywood Reporter that things only get more complicated and thrilling in season three.

“The end of season two is one thing but very quickly even more extraordinary things happen,” he said. “Allison Janney coming in, the dynamics of the story after what happens at the end of season two really gives us some extraordinary things. Also it changes dynamics that might have been in danger of playing out. And it’s getting really complex.”

The Diplomat has already been renewed for season four.

Debora Cahn, who created the show, serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Russell, Janice Williams, Alex Graves, Peter Noah and Eli Attie.

The cast includes Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, Ato Essandoh, Celia Imrie, Nana Mensah and Miguel Sandoval.