8 burning questions we have for The Diplomat season 3

The Diplomat season 2 was a whirlwind and upped the ante on the Netflix original's stakes. After we watched the finale, we needed season 3 immediately. Thankfully, the streamer has already renewed the hit political thriller for a third season and it's currently filming so we won't have to wait too long for the next part of Ambassador Kate Wyler's story.

Still, there's so much to consider regarding the season ahead of us. There's that killer cliffhanger that the second season left us on as well as several questions it left unanswered. Which parts of the narrative are we preoccupied with? What's been playing on a loop in our heads? Here are the 8 questions we hope season 3 answers!

1. How did President Rayburn die?

The Diplomat season 2's world changing ending happened because of Hal deciding to tell President Rayburn about his vice president's involvement with the attack on the HMS Courageous. Had he told Secretary of State Ganon, we'd be dealing with a different state of affairs but alas.

"Dreadnought" didn't show us the moment Hal told Rayburn or his reaction. Instead, we were treated to Hal panicked and frantically trying to get a hold of Kate. The series had established that the president had heart problems so he likely died of cardiac arrest after hearing the news about Grace Penn but it's important we know the specifics of his death.

2. Will the truth come out about VP Grace Penn?

Yes, Grace is now the president...but there's still that pesky secret to consider. You know the saying, two can keep a secret if one of them is dead, well, more than two people know that Grace gave Margaret Roylin the idea to hit a British aircraft carrier to create a "unifying event" that would keep Scotland from going independent. The reasons for why she did so involved saving the US from a nuclear conflict with Russia but that doesn't change the fact that 43 people died because of her plan going awry.

President Rayburn had been up for re-election which was the whole point of Kate being tapped to replace Grace. Well, now that's not happening and it's quite possible that Grace is going to seek the presidency beyond the 25th Amendment being triggered by Rayburn's death. If she does, that secret is going to be looming over her campaign. We're getting stressed just thinking about it.

3. Will Kate Wyler become vice president?

Season 2 ended with Kate deciding that she was going to accept the role of Vice President if it's offered to her. Then Hal accidentally killed the president. While the possibility of becoming VP could be off the table, we're not ready to rule it out just yet. Grace and Kate seemed to bond and, though they were on the outs and in the midst of arguing when the Secret Service came charging across the lawn after Rayburn's death, there's a chance they decide to work together.

If they do, it's possible it won't happen unless Grace decides to run for president. Throwing Kate in the deep end of the vice presidency doesn't seem like something the writers would do immediately, but we could be wrong! Either way, she's going to need a crash course in the job because, while she may be in the process of perfecting her vice presidential bun, Kate still has a lot to learn about the visual side of the role.

4. Will PM Nicol Trowbridge resign from office?

Whether or not Trowbridge is going to keep his job is a point that The Diplomat has gone back and forth on. He wasn't responsible for the attack on the HMS Courageous as Kate and co. originally thought but telling the truth will have major consequences.

Grace would rather he stay silent and so manipulated him into walking back his plan to gradually tell the British public what really happened. However, his wife and Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison urged him to resign anyway. He was supposed to put his man Tom in charge of an internal investigation into who in government conspired to make the attack possible but he put it off. This may come back to blow up in his face if word gets out that he knew and did nothing.

5. Will Lenny Stendig pay for his crimes?

One major consequence of staying silent about the conspiracy around the attack on the British aircraft carrier is that MP Lenny Stendig will remain free. He, along with Roylin, MP Merritt Grove, VP Penn, and more unnamed co-conspirators were responsible for 41 deaths. However, he alone acted to take out Grove and in doing so he killed Ronnie Buckhurst, the youngest member of Kate's diplomatic team.

Stuart Hayford wanted justice in season 2. Even with his excitement over the potential of Kate becoming vice president, it's hard to believe that he wouldn't want to push for some kind of recompense. After all, Stendig is still at large and he's dangerous. If he's willing to set off a car bomb to protect the secret of what happened, there's no telling what else he's capable of doing.

6. Will Kate and Dennison's relationship cause problems?

The Diplomat is messy when it comes to its romances and it's possible that could play into season 3's plot considering what Stuart told Billie Appiah, the White House Chief of Staff, in a fit of resentment toward Kate. He alluded to her close relationship with Dennison which would be an absolute deal breaker in her becoming vice president. Stuart walked it back but that thought is now in Billie's head whether she likes it or not.

When season 2 concluded, Kate and Dennison were not in a good place. He told her that their professional partnership was a mistake, and also implied so was the personal one. Dennison has now hitched his boat with Trowbridge's the way he is meant to as the Foreign Secretary and he has no interest in undermining him even if Kate deems it for the prime minister's own good.

It's doubtful the pair's relationship is over and done with even with this hiccup, especially in the face of the secret they both know (with exception to Dennison not knowing about Grace's involvement) and the president's death ushering forth a new world order. This could be a problem if others start to catch wind that a US ambassador and the Foreign Secretary have a "will they-won't they" relationship.

7. Will Stuart Hayford and Eidra Park stay broken up?

Stuart and Eidra Park broke up in season 1, but they're still talking about their relationship and will likely continue to do so in season 3. After he recovered from the car bombing and got his head back on straight, Stuart told Eidra that he wanted them to be together. One problem...she doesn't want to. But it's not because she no longer loves him, or because she's commitment-phobic as he keeps pointing out, it's because he doesn't know if he's going to be staying in London or heading back to the US with Kate to help her campaign to be vice president.

By the end of season 2, Stuart was just beginning to learn that he shouldn't try to have deep, and sometimes painful and hurtful, conversations with Eidra as she's trying to do her job. She's the Chief of the CIA's London station, she's got a lot on her plate and the demise or resurrection of their romance shouldn't be on it when she's on duty.

We have a feeling these two will get back together at some point but there's going to be plenty of conversations that need to be had in the interim as they get to the root of their problems and hang-ups.

8. What happened in Beirut?

We know Kate and Hal have been through more than one scrape together but when it comes to what happened in Beirut we've been left in the dark. We got snatches of the story in season 2, in fact the premiere had Kate briefly confusing where she was because the car bombing was similar enough to what happened in Beirut that she conflated the two events.

Then, when she spoke to Stuart about his resentment toward her and how she felt the same about Hal when she was in his position, she mentioned two people they'd lost. She didn't say when but it's possible one or both deaths occurred when they were in Beirut. Kate told Stuart that marriages don't survive the death of a child and to her and her husband that's how they see their teams.

In season 1, we learned Kate was determined to get a divorce from Hal after he pulled a move in Kabul that left them unable to help the people who'd risked their lives to assist them. It was the last straw but, based on some of the conversations that take place in season 2, their problems may have began in Beirut. We're eager to know what Hal did that put his life in danger, potentially cost others their lives, and left Kate resenting him for 10 years.

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