NEW YORK — After six seasons and a trio of Best Actress Emmy nominations with “The Americans,” Keri Russell wasn’t looking for another series when the titular role in Netflix’s “The Diplomat” proved irresistible.
“I wasn’t shopping to do a series at all — I still have three little kids at home. I’m trying to be a mom,” Russell, 47, said with a laugh during a one on one interview at Soho’s Crosby Street Hotel.
“But this was so fun. There’s a lot of good shows, but there aren’t as many that hit that snappy, fun thing — and I just took a chance.”
Russell’s Kate Wyler is an American career diplomat, smart, passionate, work-driven and married to famous, celebrated and controversial Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). Theirs is a combustible union.
“There are usually two types of ambassadors,” Russell learned. “One set is usually a ‘gift,’ for lack of a better description, as a thank you for a giant donation for a presidential election. Usually those assignments — in Paris, London, Rome — go to people who throw parties, meet dignitaries.
“But then there are the other — ambassadors who are truly diplomats. In Beirut or setting up shop in Afghanistan. They speak multiple languages and are orchestrating foreign policy, working for world peace or organizing voting issues.
“Kate is that kind. A player who loves it and is in for the long haul. And she gets plucked from that world, being good behind the scenes, to go to London!
“Which is a very different vibe. Here it matters how she dresses. They want her hair to look nice. She has to be polite and shiny in a way that she’s not used to. And she has to have a husband with her — for the pictures, the tea parties and dances.”
This is not the best time for Kate and “larger than life” Hal. “He’s a complicated guy with a huge sense of ego and Kate was attracted to it and is repelled by it, all at once.”
One spectacular bonus about “The Diplomat”: We can see the extravagant (and costly) new American Embassy in London, with its private moat. (Yes, a moat!)
“It’s a pretty incredible building right? Completely state of the art and so space age, futuristic looking. That we actually got to shoot there,” Russell conceded, “was really incredible. It’s an important building because so much intelligence goes through it.
“I learned how close the UK and the United States are and how much information they share. They call it the ‘very special relationship’ because it is.”
“The Diplomat” streams on Netflix Thursday