The Diplomat Stars And EP Tell All About That Stunning Finale Twist — Plus, Grade The Season!

Warning: This post contains spoilers for all eight episodes of Season 4 of "The Diplomat."

Does "The Diplomat" still work if Kate Wyler isn't a diplomat anymore? We may have to find out after the shocking events that wrapped up Season 4.

In the finale — all Season 4 episodes are now streaming on Netflix — Kate finally reached her breaking point with President Grace Penn and her dangerous brinksmanship with Russia and the new U.K. prime minister. (It didn't help that Grace sent Kate's close ally Stuart home for registering his disapproval.) In the middle of the G7 summit, Kate very publicly resigned from her post as U.K. ambassador, with Billie and Miguel following her out the door. As Kate walked out, she turned back to see... Hal had resigned, too, as vice-president. 

So was that Hal's way of supporting his wife Kate, or was it just a savvy political maneuver? "I think it's a mixture of things," Rufus Sewell, who plays Hal, tells TVLine. "I think he has been struggling with the morality and and the rightness and wrongness of where he's going, and I think he's calculated up to that point that his closeness to [Grace] is of more value than him saying something displeasing enough that he will be out of influence, because the influence is the only chance anyone has, in a kind of [Tony] Blair-like way, to influence events, and you can find out that that your influence is actually nil." Hal is "calculated," he admits, and "he needs that nudge" from Kate. "But I think there's a little bit of all of it in that decision."

By the end of Season 4, Grace's aggressive (and somewhat erratic) geopolitical tactics raised alarms with everyone around her... even her husband Todd, played by Bradley Whitford. So after Kate and Hal's defection, could Todd follow suit? "I think there's a little bit of a temptation there at the end" for Todd to speak up, Whitford says, "a question for her own sake. But I think that's an impossible thing for him to do, and I'm very interested about about where this will go, and whether or not we have been overly protective in our questioning of Grace and the possibility — I really have no idea at all — that Grace is playing a very long game." Hmmm... so maybe Grace's strategy is the wisest one after all? 

In any case, the Season 4 finale leaves everything from Kate's employment future to the state of U.S. global diplomacy up in the air. Where does it go from here in a potential fifth season? (Netflix has yet to formally renew "The Diplomat" for Season 5.) Will we see Kate and Hal united against the White House? "You're asking all the right questions," showrunner Deborah Cahn coyly tells TVLine, "and if you could submit some answers to me in writing, I would appreciate it." 

Now we're asking for your vote: Give Season 4 of "The Diplomat" a grade in our poll, and hit the comments to share your thoughts and predictions.