After that explosive Season 2 ending, fans will be happy to know The Diplomat Season 3 is already in development at Netflix. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)
The Diplomat might be the hardest-working political drama on Netflix right now. With 173.46 million hours viewed after the premiere of its first season, the streaming service has quickly worked to keep the show on top.
Season 2 arrived in October 2024, bringing about the shock reveal that the attack on the HMS Courageous had come from inside the house. If that wasn’t enough, the second season ended with the unexpected death of President William Rayburn, who died from a heart attack after learning the news.
That’s a lot to take in, and it leaves the door open for some major political plays in Season 3. Luckily, the wait might not be as long as you think.
Is there a release date for The Diplomat Season 3?
There’s no confirmed release date for The Diplomat Season 3, but there’s good news: it’s already been greenlit, and new episodes have already been filmed!
That’s pretty unprecedented, since Season 2 only just aired on Netflix on October 31, 2024. In fact, the Season 3 announcement arrived three weeks before Season 2 even premiered.
In the current landscape of shows being canceled left and right, that’s an incredible indicator of just how much the streamer has faith in its political thriller.
When the announcement was made, Netflix also confirmed that new episodes were being filmed in London and New York City, so progress is well underway!
Series creator Debora Cahn told Variety: “After an amazing summer shooting in the U.K., we brought London home to New York. Best of both worlds—filming in Brooklyn. We love doing this. We’re so excited to get to keep going.”
Thankfully, the gap between The Diplomat Seasons 1 and 2 was blissfully short at only 18 months. Considering production is already going ahead for Season 3, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect new episodes on Netflix in early 2026.
How many episodes will Season 3 have?
Creator and showrunner Debora Cahn has confirmed there will be eight episodes in Season 3.
Fans of the show will have noticed that Season 2 dipped down to six episodes instead of repeating Season 1’s eight. As Cahn revealed to TVLine, that drop in episodes was initially her choice.
“[Netflix] was not happy. They wanted the full eight. I was really tired. It was a time thing.”
She added, “It felt like there wasn’t enough time to turn around eight of them. It was a lot to do in what appeared to be a short period of time.
“Had we known it was going to be a year and a half before we got back on the air, it would’ve been different. Season 3 will be eight episodes.”
The Diplomat Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix now.
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