MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Just when you thought the special relationship was safe, that the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. was unbreakable, enter Season 3 of the Netflix political drama "The Diplomat."
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) The Pentagon is drawing up battle plans for a war with Great Britain.
KELLY: For those of you who, like me, were glued to Season 2, you know it ended with the president of the United States dying with the vice president inconveniently out of the country in London. This new season opens with the hustle and the security nightmare of getting that vice president sworn in as president - and fast - while she's still on foreign soil.
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ALLISON JANNEY: (As President Grace Penn) Have they secured the speaker of the House?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Yes, ma'am.
KELLY: And yes, she - Madam President. Allison Janney stars as President Grace Penn, and Keri Russell is back once again as Kate Wyler, the American ambassador to Britain. And I am delighted to report that both of them are in our New York studios today. Welcome, you two.
JANNEY: Thank you so much. We're happy to be here.
KERI RUSSELL: Thanks, Mary Louise. Oh, it's so fun to be here.
KELLY: So fun to have you. OK, Keri Russell, kick us off.
RUSSELL: Yeah.
KELLY: The big question as this season gets underway is who was the president talking to? Season 2 ends. He's on the phone with someone and then he keels over and dies. And that someone is married to your character - the manipulative...
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: ...Devious, handsome, utterly charming Hal Wyler. Set the scene. What else do we know?
RUSSELL: That guy causes a lot of mischief. That's all I have to say.
KELLY: But he is charming.
RUSSELL: Oh, my gosh. He's the...
JANNEY: And so handsome.
RUSSELL: He's the best...
JANNEY: It's ridiculous.
RUSSELL: ...Character on the show. So yeah, he was on the phone with the president. The president dies, and now Season 3 picks up exactly where we left off and watches all of that unfold.
KELLY: Allison - Madam President, I think I should call you...
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: ...I know you don't want to give away all the plot twists, but can you tip us off to kind of where your character is as Season 3 gets underway?
JANNEY: Well, at the end of Season 2, right before we find out that the president has died, Keri's character, Kate, accuses me of being a terrorist and says she's gunning for my job. And then I become president. So it starts us off on that foot, which is rather tricky. And it's incredibly thrilling to step into this role as now president...
KELLY: Yeah.
JANNEY: ...Of the United States.
KELLY: Well, and I kicked us off by noting that the U.S.-U.K. relationship is in big trouble as Season 3 gets going, and that is in part because your character, Keri, is in a romantic entanglement with the British foreign secretary.
RUSSELL: As one does.
KELLY: As happens.
RUSSELL: (Laughter).
KELLY: As happens from time to time. Also, the fictional British prime minister, Nicol Trowbridge, played by the amazing Rory Kinnear, is - I'm trying to think how to put it. He's a piece of work.
RUSSELL: Oh, Rory is so fantastic. And I think Debora Cahn, who writes our show, just relishes getting to write for him. The idea was to kind of say maybe we can make the U.K. have this president that was very divisive, to make him the wild one.
KELLY: Well, people are already gathering. There are all kinds of devious men...
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: ...Causing all kinds of trouble. This whole season revolves around smart women, led by the two of you, your characters, who, as our TV critic noted, are deftly guiding the powerful men into making better decisions than they could manage on their own. Was that a huge stretch for the two of you to play?
JANNEY: Oh, God, no. It's so much fun.
KELLY: (Laughter).
RUSSELL: It's so fun.
JANNEY: It's delicious.
KELLY: Yeah.
JANNEY: It's the kind of writing that I read and I go, I cannot wait to memorize these lines. I cannot...
KELLY: Yeah.
JANNEY: ...Wait to get to deliver them, get to play scenes with Keri. The relationship between us is one of the best relationship dynamics I've ever gotten to play. And they've had to fight extra hard to be where they are. So the decisions that they make, especially Grace makes, she's judged much harshly for.
KELLY: You just said there were lines in these scripts that you just couldn't wait to deliver.
JANNEY: Oh, yeah.
KELLY: Like what?
JANNEY: Well, like the scene with Keri where I dress her down (laughter)...
RUSSELL: Oh, the best.
JANNEY: ...And tell her, starting from the north...
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JANNEY: (As President Grace Penn) You probably think your hair says you're too busy serving your country to get a blowout. But it reads as bedhead.
And I just go through every part of her appearance and knock her down, and it was...
KELLY: Is that the scene her pants are literally being held together by a paper clip?
JANNEY: Yes. I go - I look and I go...
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JANNEY: (As President Grace Penn) Is that a paper clip?
RUSSELL: (As Ambassador Kate Wyler) Oh. Yes, I had a zipper issue.
JANNEY: (As President Grace Penn) When you're a second-tier diplomat in a third world war zone, that may read as scrappy. If you're representing the interests of 300 million Americans whose health care is failing, whose planet is burning, whose future might get a little bit better or a little bit worse based on what you do in the course of a day, it's best to look like the care of your trousers wasn't more than you could manage.
That and the map scene I got to do with Keri.
RUSSELL: Yeah.
JANNEY: That was incredible.
RUSSELL: I know.
KELLY: Describe the map scene.
JANNEY: She accuses me of being a terrorist. And I orchestrate a strike on a British ship to unify the U.K. and Scotland. We sort of blame it on...
RUSSELL: Russia.
JANNEY: ...Russia. And yeah.
RUSSELL: Allison and I are both looking at each other like...
JANNEY: We're like, wait...
RUSSELL: ...Wait, who do we blame?
JANNEY: ...Who do we...
(LAUGHTER)
RUSSELL: Because it's so dense, the plot...
JANNEY: Yeah.
RUSSELL: ...And it changes. Like, I'll come in often and go, wait...
JANNEY: Yeah.
RUSSELL: ...Who are we mad at today? Wait, who knows what?
KELLY: Yeah. Allison Janney, "West Wing" fans will note that you're reuniting here with Bradley Whitford. You're back at it, bickering in the White House.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: What has that been like nearly two decades - right? - since "The West Wing" went off the air?
JANNEY: I know, it has been. And I - Brad and I laughed. I said it's like, we've been arguing in fake government buildings for over 30 years. It's just hilarious.
(LAUGHTER)
JANNEY: And Brad says, yeah, we have no range at all, do we? And yet, it's absolutely different. And we had to do a bedroom scene, which I was not looking forward to. I was like, oh, my God, Brad. He's like my brother. But we got in there, and actually, it made it more comfortable that we knew each other so well because we had - it was - it ended up being a really fun scene.
KELLY: Speaking of sex scenes, Keri Russell, you...
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: ...You've got...
RUSSELL: Yes?
KELLY: ...You've got crazy chemistry in this season with Rufus Sewell, who plays your husband, the mendacious Hal. And it got me thinking you seem to specialize in playing women in complex marriages. I'm thinking of "The Americans," where you were trying to kill your husband, even as you loved him.
RUSSELL: (Laughter).
KELLY: And you...
RUSSELL: Maybe that's the theme.
KELLY: ...You're together in real life with Matthew Rhys, who...
RUSSELL: I sure am.
KELLY: ...Played your husband on that show. In your scenes with Rufus Sewell, y'all were so snarky and you're so terrible to each other, and I was still rooting for you two. You're...
RUSSELL: I know.
KELLY: ...Like, hoping you're going to make it.
RUSSELL: It's such a fun relationship to play. I know they're a mess - a hot mess - a lot of the time, but there is something adult about their relationship to me. They just have this electric kind of frisky, combative, competitive relationship. And I think, honestly, even if they were divorced, they would walk in a room and still have that connection with each other.
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RUFUS SEWELL: (As Hal Wyler) You were amazing with the...
RUSSELL: (As Ambassador Kate Wyler) Don't.
SEWELL: (As Hal Wyler) She's not blaming me, right?
RUSSELL: (As Ambassador Kate Wyler) Can I not think about you for a second right now?
SEWELL: (As Hal Wyler) I'm trying to figure out if I need a [expletive] lawyer. Whether or not she blames me matters, legally.
RUSSELL: (As Ambassador Kate Wyler) I blame you.
SEWELL: (As Hal Wyler) Yeah, so do I.
KELLY: I did say I'm rooting for them. I know you can't reveal, like, are they going to make it or not, but I am kind of sneakily tiptoeing my way up to asking is there going to be another season?
RUSSELL: We are about to start filming it. Yep. And you know what? Of everything I've done, this is by far my favorite job. It's such a great combination of funny, smart, in the world about things and people that I care about. And it's just so much fun. Maybe part of it is my age or that you just start really digging in and enjoying things. But I want it to keep going and going.
KELLY: As do we. Keri Russell and Allison Janney. They star in Season 3 of "The Diplomat." It is out now on Netflix. Thanks, you two.
RUSSELL: Thank you so much.
KELLY: Thanks, Mary Louise.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATHAN BARR AND DIMITRI SMITH'S "THEY WANT YOU") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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