How Did “The Diplomat” Season 1 End? All the Thrilling Twists to Remember Before Season 2 (Including Who Survived That Car Bomb)

Season 1 of 'The Diplomat' ended with an explosive cliffhanger no one saw coming

Warning: Spoilers for season 1 of The Diplomat ahead!

There was no shortage of shocking developments and explosive cliffhangers in the season 1 finale of Netflix’s The Diplomat.

The Emmy-nominated political drama series stars Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell as Kate and Hal Wyler, married American diplomats with extensive foreign experience. The season opens with Kate learning she’s been reassigned from Afghanistan to the United Kingdom after a British aircraft carrier, the HMS Courageous, was bombed — killing 25 members of the Royal Navy.

Throughout the season, Kate attempts to prevent a world war from erupting as the British seek to find out who is responsible for the attack. The final episode of season 1 follows Kate and the British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) as they attempt to facilitate the arrest of the bomber, Roman Lenkov, while he is vacationing in France. But as Kate gets approval from the French to have the British take Lenkov into custody, she learns something that changes everything.

This extreme cliffhanger at the end of season 1 was a deliberate move on show creator Debora Cahn’s part.

“I wanted it to make people want more,” Cahn, who also worked on Homeland and The West Wing, told Tudum. “I wanted to bring together all of the different dynamics of the political relationships and the personal relationships in one event that splits apart all at the same time.”

All six episodes of The Diplomat season 2 dropped on Netflix on Oct. 31. Before you dive into the new episodes, here’s a look back at everything that went down in The Diplomat season 1 finale.

How did The Diplomat season 1 end?

The season finale of The Diplomat, titled “The James Bond Clause," begins the morning after the plan to attack Lenkov’s troops in Libya has been called off. Kate heads to a meeting in Dennison’s office, where she learns that Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (played by James Bond actor Rory Kinnear) has had a change of heart and wants to arrest Lenkov while he is on vacation in France.

Though Trowbridge called Kate an “embarrassment” just the day before when she initially suggested this course of action, he is now fully on board with the idea.

To move forward with Lenkov’s capture, Kate and Dennison must travel to Paris to ask the French minister of the interior, Brielle Fournier (played by Micky Sébastian), for permission for British Special Forces to execute the arrest. Because of the last minute travel plans, Kate asks Hal to step in for her and give a speech at Chatham House, an international affairs policy institute in London.

Hal's speech is well-received, and he phones Kate in Paris to tell her as much — and that he was approached by a Tory member of Parliament, Merritt Grove (played by Simon Chandler), for an urgent meeting. When Kate finds out that Hal has accepted the dinner invitation with Grove for that evening, she is enraged by the realization that her soon-to-be ex-husband is potentially gunning for the Secretary of State position. She demands that Hal not meet with Grove, and arranges for Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh) — her chief of mission at the embassy — and aide Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau) to take the meeting instead. But Hal insists on coming to make a five-minute “handover.”

Back in Paris, after a failed attempt at getting permission from Fournier, Kate heads to an event at the Louvre, where she gets Fournier to agree to let British special ops arrest Lenkov. But Fournier also tells Kate that she’s surprised that the U.S. would be on board with and “strongly lobby for an extrajudicial assassination” — leaving Kate shell-shocked. The plan was to arrest Lenkov alive, but Fournier says her intelligence revealed that the Brits intend to kill him.

Kate runs out of the Louvre and confronts Dennison about the assassination plan. He insists he had no idea, and also finds it hard to believe: If Lenkov is assassinated, the British won’t be able to find out who hired him in the first place. Plus, under the Intelligence Services Act, Dennison would have had to authorize the kill request — and he didn’t.

This is when it all clicks for Kate. “A dead Lenkov is only good for the people who hired him,” she says, realizing that it must have been Trowbridge who hired Lenkov to blow up his own country’s aircraft carrier.

But this isn’t the only explosive development: In London, Grove is angry when Buckhurst shows up to meet him and not Hal. He storms out to his car, where both Hayford and Hal are rushing to approach him. Grove goes to enter his car, but as he opens the door, it explodes — leaving the entire block engulfed in flames. In the final scene, Kate’s security detail informs her of the explosion in London, leaving her in tears.

Fans weren’t the only ones left shocked by the dramatic ending; Russell herself didn’t see it coming.

“I was totally surprised,” the actress told Deadline of the ending. “But Debora is such a veteran. She’s been doing this forever. She’s such a pro. She knows what she’s doing. I’m assuming she had that plan for a while, but I was completely surprised.”

Does Hal survive at the end of The Diplomat season 1?

One of the biggest cliffhangers from The Diplomat season 1 finale is who — if anyone — survived the fiery explosion. But the season 2 trailer for The Diplomat confirms at least one survivor: Hal. The teaser clip begins with the former ambassador, alive and well, escorting Kate to a black-tie affair.

Official Netflix photos from season 2 of The Diplomat also reveal another survivor: Kate’s deputy chief of mission Hayford. At the conclusion of season 1, Sewell (who portrays Hal) was hopeful that everyone would make it out alive.

“I hope we all survive,” he told Tudum. “What can I say? I mean, I loved the dramatic turn. And I just have to hope a) that there’ll be a second season, and b) that everyone will be OK. But the drama needs to be real.”

Why was Grove killed in The Diplomat season 1?

While Hal and Hayford survived the car explosion, it is safe to assume Grove — who was the closest to the detonation — was killed. But why was he taken out?

Grove’s urgency to connect with someone from the White House insinuates that he knew about Trowbridge and the assassination plan against Lenkov, and was trying to inform the U.S. before it went down.

The explosion, therefore, was potentially meant to silence him and his knowledge — but who officially arranged for Grove’s death is still unknown heading into season 2.

Where do Kate and Hal stand at the end of season 1?

Throughout season 1 of The Diplomat, Kate isn’t just working to smooth over international relations — her own marriage is also in a precarious position. The couple had plans to divorce, but with Kate being eyed for the vice presidency, she and Hal need to stay together for the optics.

In the season finale, Hal appears to get jealous when he learns Kate will be traveling to Paris with Dennison (who she’s had a flirtatious relationship with since arriving in London). Kate offers for Hal to come along and seems like she’s even on board with reconciling — but that all changes when she thinks Hal is eyeing the Secretary of State position.

“I feel like the stand-up thing to do is to give a relationship every possible chance, right?” Kate says while venting to Dennison in Paris. “I mean, it’s the whole f------ definition of my life’s work. There’s nothing you can’t talk out. But at a certain point, I’m a moron for failing to learn a lesson I’ve been taught a thousand times.”

Kate seems resolved that she and Hal are over — but the developments at the end of the season 1 finale change everything. As the couple head into season 2, Kate will have to lean on Hal — “her only real ally,” according to Netflix — as she discovers who she can trust.

When does The Diplomat season 2 premiere?

Just 10 days after The Diplomat season 1 premiered on Netflix and skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot on the Netflix Top 10 list, season 2 was ordered. The decision to renew the political drama, which was one of PEOPLE’s top 10 TV shows of 2023, was a no-brainer, according to Jinny Howe, Vice President of Drama Series at Netflix.

“Fans around the world are loving every minute of The Diplomat’s gripping and propulsive drama, and embracing Keri Russell’s powerful performance as Kate Wyler,” Howe told Tudum. “After that jaw-dropping cliffhanger, we can’t wait for them to see what the amazing visionary team ... have in store for season 2.”

The Diplomat season 2 started filming in London in June 2023 but was delayed due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes. Production later resumed in December 2023.

All episodes of The Diplomat season 2 are now streaming on Netflix.