October 16, 2026
Dear loyal viewers of Netflix's 'The Diplomat,'
As someone who just recently binged not just the latest season of The Diplomat but the entire series, I feel a special obligation: I must relentlessly beg on my two crumbling knees to the executives at Netflix to convince them to relent to fans' voracious desire for a season 5.
The talented showrunner Deborah Cahn has in fact found the secret formula for a smart and savory political drama: lingering interpersonal power plays, quick and sudden turns in the plot and imperfect but compelling characters who are realistic enough to be relatable but still fantastical enough to be entertaining.
Somehow, the steam has not run out. Streaming behemoths such as Netflix are discovering that the milk is still good past its mandated expiration date, that in many cases, the second season of a well-written series does not have to be its end.
Viewers, myself included, actually enjoy looking forward to a series that lasts multiple seasons. The one caveat is that they don't want to wait several years in between seasons (as is the case with another fantastic Netflix series that I can't stop thinking about, The Gentlemen).
Anyways, brava, Deborah. Hope we get to see you do it again.
Cheers,
Nathalie Q. Phan-Clifford