eri Russell has made a career of playing the kinds of heroines who lodge themselves in the television-viewing public’s consciousness with single-name resonance: Felicity (from, you know, Felicity), Elizabeth (from The Americans), and now Kate from The Diplomat. On this new Netflix show, which premieres on April 20, Russell plays Kate Wyler, a civil servant who has conducted her diplomatic career largely offstage while her husband, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), a foreign policy wonk with front-of-house energy and Lawrence of Arabia hair, occupied center stage. They are moving into a new phase of their careers and their relationship: Kate is headed to Afghanistan, or so she thinks; the couple is not so amicably headed for divorce. Both those plans are upended, however, when Kate is told she will, confoundingly, be given the plum (but too soft, for her tastes) post of London; the divorce, too, is put tentatively on hold.

The role is a rich and juicy one for Russell, whose spine of steel—the backbone of so many episodes of The Americans is deployed here with more diplomatic grace. Kate is tough but also human, adept at internalizing a complex geopolitical issue, but also personally annoyed that she has to devote her time to figuring out the right attire to wear to the negotiating table. She’s extremely competent and also subsisting mainly on yogurt that she eats standing up. The show reads something like a cross between The West Wing and Homeland (its showrunner, Debora Cahn, worked on both), with fast-paced banter laced with D.C. jargon and the looming backdrop of current events foregrounding the interpersonal struggles.

I met Russell at a Manhattan hotel the week before the show aired to discuss this new role, her life in Brooklyn with her partner, Matthew Rhys, and what she read to bone up on the life of a career diplomat.

Why did you want to make this show?

Keri Russell: I wasn’t out hunting for another show. I had a really satisfying experience with The Americans, and I have a full life at home. I have kids still in school, and so I tend to just find reasons to not do a show. But I guess it was Debora [Cahn], who wrote the show—her specific brand of acerbic political jargon mixed in with her humor and the fun, sparkly wit that she has.

Had you been a fan of Debora’s shows in the past? I watched the show and then I said “It has elements of The West Wing and Homeland.” And then I looked at her bio, and I was like, makes sense.

It’s no accident that she’s so good and experienced. I just, I love her humor and the specificity with which she writes about the minutiae of living.

You mentioned your kids. Were they old enough to watch The Americans? Is this a show they’re going to experience in real time with you?

Right now they’re six, 11, and 15, so I don’t think they care really about me. [Laughs.] And they certainly didn’t care about The Americans. I was like, “You know, I beat some dude up last night. It was really cool. You wanna see it?”

Diplomacy is less exciting than that.

Yeah—the hierarchy of introductions, like when you’re being introduced to a president—maybe not so interesting to them.

My husband works for the government, and I was pretty impressed by the level of accurate-seeming acronyms.

So much political jargon on this show! There was one day in the middle of the summer that I was like, please, let me get COVID. I can’t talk about Iranian sanctions anymore or any of this diplomatic speak. I just need two days to lay in my bed and not say those words.

Did you have to study up on it? It is a different language.

It’s a different language, and you have to sound proficient at it while you’re also doing something physical and acting mad with somebody. It’s bonkers. A definite challenge.

Did you have a similar experience on The Americans in terms of learning Cold War history and policy?

There’s always a learning curve. But that’s the fun of getting to be an actor. You get to delve into this world that you know nothing about usually, and just visit it for a while in this incredible way where you often get to meet experts in the field or someone who’s actually done the thing that you’re acting out.

Did you have a government liaison?

Debora spends a lot of time on the phone with advisors. And she has a lot of contacts from her past experiences. We also had a group of people in London who work at the U.S. Embassy in the U.K. And then I did a lot of reading.

– From Vogue.com