Picture Credit: Netflix
One of the best-kept secrets of The Diplomat season 4 is out now that all eight episodes are streaming on Netflix: Doctor Who and Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker has joined the cast. Here’s who she plays, how she fits into the new season, and what Keri Russell had to say about her arrival.
Whittaker’s casting was kept under wraps for most of the build-up to release. She was only credited in Netflix’s guest star billing for the season alongside Celia Imrie, Miguel Sandoval, Rosaline Elbay, and Aidan Turner, and appeared for only a fleeting moment in the official season 4 trailer right towards the end. Her role is a major plot point in the back half of the season, so if you haven’t finished the new episodes yet, turn back now.
Who does Jodie Whittaker play in The Diplomat season 4?
Whittaker plays Bethan Vaughan, who becomes Britain’s new Prime Minister. The fallout from the season 3 cliffhanger hits Downing Street hard. In episode 4, Rory Kinnear’s Nicol Trowbridge announces he has resigned, ending his run as the only Prime Minister the show has had since it premiered in 2023. What follows is a drawn-out leadership battle, which Vaughan eventually wins against an incredibly unsavory character making her only the second PM in the history of the series. Vaughan is introduced as something of an unknown quantity, although her official description by Netflix describes her, at least on paper, as the “perfect counterpart for Kate.”
As you’d expect from The Diplomat, a new face in Number 10 means a whole new set of headaches for Kate and the Penn administration. Vaughan is no pushover, and she isn’t inclined to simply fall in line behind Washington after the way Britain’s closest ally has treated her predecessor.
In a TUDUM piece, Janice Williams, an executive producer on the show, said: “On the surface, there’s a lot about Vaughn that is Kate-adjacent,” adding, “I think Jodie Whittaker herself really brought that to the character — ‘We’re just two ballsy women in a man’s world, and we’re taking it all on. We’re going to be besties.’”
Picture Credit: Netflix
Why did The Diplomat change Prime Ministers?
Speaking to Deadline, creator Debora Cahn explained that the show had reached a point where its fictional UK had kept the same Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary for as long as the real UK had cycled through several changes of government. She said it felt dishonest not to make the characters deal with what happens when every relationship they’ve built is suddenly reset and they have to start from scratch. Cahn also managed to keep Whittaker’s casting secret right up until release day.
Keri Russell told Deadline that she’d been curious about who would be cast once the character was written. According to Russell, Cahn wanted the new Prime Minister to be a peer to Kate rather than someone above her, as Allison Janney’s Grace Penn already fills that role. The idea was a woman of Kate’s generation in a real position of power, handling it well and projecting a confidence that Kate hasn’t quite managed yet. Russell was full of praise for the result: “Jodie did it so well, she’s wonderful.” Early reviews seem to agree.
Where else have you seen Jodie Whittaker?
Whittaker is best known for becoming the first woman to play the Doctor, starring as the Thirteenth Doctor in Doctor Who from 2018 until 2022. Before that, she played grieving mother Beth Latimer opposite David Tennant and Olivia Colman across all three series of ITV’s Broadchurch. Her other credits include Attack the Block, Black Mirror‘s “The Entire History of You”, Trust Me, Time, One Night, and more recently for Netflix, an excellent performance in Toxic Town.
For everything else you need to know about the new season, check out our full guide to The Diplomat season 4. What did you make of Jodie Whittaker’s turn as Bethan Vaughan? Let us know in the comments.