How Keri Russell Helped Her ‘Struggling’ Costar on The Diplomat

Ato Essandoh nothing but praise Diplomat costar Keri Russell.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years – 30 years – I’ve been on a lot of TV shows and I’ve had a lot of people I’ve worked with, but this is the first time I’m taking this job. I feel like this is a family,” Essandoh, 52, said exclusively Us Weekly -most Diplomat Season 2 premieres on Sunday, October 20. “We really care about each other. “Everyone in the cast really cares about each other.”

At the Paley Center for Media’s PaleyFest New York 2024, Essandoh said working with Russell, 48, was “incredible.”

“He’s a very real person,” Essandoh said. We. “He’s tough, he’s kind, he brings joy to the set and enjoys what he does. “If I’m having trouble in a scene, he pulls me aside and says, ‘We’re just playing around here.'”

DiplomatThe film, which premiered in 2023, follows Kate Wyler (Russell), the newly appointed US ambassador to the UK, and her complicated marriage to her politician friend Hal Wyler (Russell).Rufus Sewell).

The series became the most watched series in the first two weeks after it was released on Netflix. In addition to receiving an Emmy nomination for this role, Russell received Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and SAG awards.

“I’m reading (show creator) Debora Cahn“I thought it was so funny and sharp and complex and entertaining and I couldn’t say no,” Russell said. netflix earlier this month.

Season 1 of the series followed Kate (Russell) trying to find her direction “amidst all the pomp and circumstance,” she told Netflix. (The president, who was planning to go to Kabul for his next assignment, asked Kate to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom instead.)

While Russell remained tight-lipped about the show’s season 2, he did tease that the series “started off with so much energy and drive that he didn’t have time to think about being center stage.” This season, she is tasked with tracking down the conspirators who tried to kill her husband. “That’s way more in his wheelhouse,” Russell told Netflix.

Russell also said Kate needs to figure out “how to manage an investigation into a country that is an ally.” “He’s there to engage with and support this government, so I think his case is pure diplomacy.”

Diplomat season 2 Dropping on Netflix 31 October.

With reporting from Andrew Nodell