Netflix has renewed ‘The Diplomat’ for a 2nd season

Fans of “The Diplomat” can officially rest easy knowing they won’t be left hanging after the season 1 finale.

Netflix has announced that Debora Cahn’s hit series, which stars Keri Russell as a well-dressed US ambassador who receives an unexpected (and unwanted) promotion while her marriage is falling apart, has been renewed for a second season. No release date or production schedule has been announced, but Russell will return as Kate Wyler and Cahn will continue to serve as showrunner and executive producer.

“I’m thrilled to be back for another round of this intelligent screwball show,” Russell said in a statement announcing the news. “Can I say it’s fun?” Thanks to Netflix for giving us another chance.”

“We had a lot of fun making ‘The Diplomat,'” Cahn added. “And it’s exciting to see how much people are enjoying it. We are very happy to be able to do it again!”

“The Diplomat” premiered on April 20 and quickly became a hit on Netflix. It debuted at number one on the streamer’s weekly global top 10 TV list, with Netflix claiming 57.48 million hours were watched on the site in its first weekend.

The series was praised by critics for putting a somewhat modern spin on the kind of bland political thriller that used to regularly grace network lineups. The end result is exactly the kind of endlessly edible middle-of-the-road fare that Netflix has prioritized in recent years.

Created, written and directed by Debora Cahn (who spent four years on ‘The West Wing’ before joining ‘Homeland’), the new Netflix series starring the great Keri Russell is a smart evolution from those two shows. big walk-talk energy alongside low and hurried chatter,” wrote Ben Travers of IndieWire in his Season 1 review. “‘The Diplomat’ doesn’t idealize government work like Aaron Sorkin did, and it doesn’t indulge in the kind of action-driven spectacle that Alex Gansa and Lesli Linka Glatter often enjoyed.” But as befits its character-driven, story-driven medium, the political thriller keeps you guessing from start to finish, and it does so almost exclusively through dialogue, be it shouts, whispers, winks or stares.”

Register: Stay up to date with the latest movie and TV news! Subscribe to our email newsletter here.