Season 3 of “The Diplomat” ends with one of the series’ biggest shocks, and one of the most morally questionable moves pulled off by Rufus Sewell’s Hal Wyler, an old hand at questionable moves.

When we meet Wyler in the first season, he’s a disgraced former ambassador who’s working behind the scenes to position his wife, ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), as a potential vice president — but by the third season, Hal has separated from Kate, usurped her and become vice president himself. And unbeknownst to Kate until the final moments of the season, he’s also helped the president (Allison Janney) carry out a wildly illegal undercover operation involving a crippled Russian nuclear submarine.

Debora Cahn’s Netflix series swings between geopolitics and personal dynamics, sparked by the bickering relationship between Kate and Hal and fueled by conspiracy theories galore. While Russell has been nominated for all three seasons and “The Diplomat” earned Outstanding Drama Series noms for the second and third ones, Sewell received his first nomination for the series this year, adding to his guest-actor nod in 2019 for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

The British actor made his name playing villains in such films as “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Illusionist,” but Hal is a kick precisely because his underhanded scheming isn’t necessarily bad; it’s just a little misguided. As Kate learns again and again, you can’t trust him for a second, but you can’t quit him, either.

In every season, it feels as if shocking new revelations about Hal drop.
To me, too.

Have you learned things about Hal over the years that made you think, “I wish I knew that in Season 1?”
Not really. Interesting question, but no. I think everything that’s happened was pretty much part of the deal when I developed my understanding of him and had great long talks with Debora Cahn. All of his known potentialities were very much in play, and that’s why it was so exciting. I mean, I found out a little more as I was going along. What I always said to Deb is that if Hal would know this, please let me know. If it takes him by surprise, let it take me by surprise.

And the more extraordinary plot twists and turns that Hal’s behind, there’s always a very good reason for them from his perspective. Always. Things go wrong, but it goes back to who he is, why he makes decisions and what it’s for. Very often, it’s far more altruistic than it might appear.

What he explains very early on, in Episode 1, is that he believes that Kate is absolutely qualified to be vice president and more. She has the goods. But he can’t tell her that, because she’ll shy at the post. You can describe that as manipulative and you may well be right. But he’s also not wrong, and he’s manipulating her into something for her. I’m not arguing the morality of that. It’s a mixed bag. And as he grows in power, the potential for bigger and darker versions of that grow.

He may know she is absolutely qualified, but he knows he’s qualified, too.
One hundred percent. There’s never been any doubt about that. What I’ve always said about Hal and Kate is that their way of moving through the world politically is you push on doors to have access, to be in the room. Which door is going to open? In Season 1, there’s a door that could open for Kate. They push and they push and they push, and the door for him opens. And he is someone, when the door for him opens, he’s like, “I’m going through that. This is my door now. It was yours, now it’s mine.” (Laughs)

At the end of Season 3, he and the president make a huge, risky move that raises a question: How far are you willing to go to achieve this particular end?
Exactly. It’s very interesting stuff. It’s a moral problem. You could very easily argue that he is taking steps that are too far, but you could argue the opposite. Often, people will use the idea of doing good things as a stalking horse for more selfish reasons than even they allow to themselves.

That’s the kind of dynamic that we often see playing out around us, where so many political decisions are made for the unstated purpose of acquiring or retaining power.
There’s a very conscious effort with “The Diplomat” to not try to keep up with the bizarreness of reality, because you can’t. Just in terms of the timing, there’s no way we could predict where stories in our real world are going. However, sometimes things will just end up rhyming, you know? And I think there’s no way you can prevent that, any more than you can coincide what you’re doing with what’s going to happen in the world a year later. ‘

(Laughs) The show is an interesting kind of netherworld — a kind of nice, safe alternate crisis for people to enjoy.

When we talked in the first season, you said you see the show as a comedy of sorts.
I see everything I do as a comedy. I’m being flippant, but what I mean is that even if something is deadly serious, I always try to see it in terms of humor. That may not show. It doesn’t play as jokes, but just as a way of breaking something open.

This is the best kind of material, as far as I’m concerned, because both (comedy and drama) are intertwined all the time. I get a little surprised to see it continue to be described as a drama by people, and I can’t help but judge people who say that. Of course it’s a drama, but it’s a funny drama. It’s a dramatic comedy.

And what I really like about it, and I think the key to it, is the fact that the jokes are not added. It’s just about these people and their sense of humor. It’s how they communicate. And when they’re talking politics and when they’re insulting each other, they have a wit to them that is not necessarily about “now you laugh.” It’s just their language.

This story first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.

EXCLUSIVE: Marcus Callender, best known for starring in Power and Wu-Tang: An American Saga, is taking his Spades: The Play on a national tour.

The stage play is set to run 76 performances across Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and Miami this fall, following a four-week debut run in Harlem last November.

“I consider Spades: The Play a love letter to us and to the culture. I spent ten years writing this play, with love, care and intention poured into every word,” the director and playwright says. “Taking it on tour and bringing it directly to the people is exactly what it was created for.”

He continued, “Great theater doesn’t have to exist within the walls of traditional confines — it comes from raw storytelling and relatable experiences that can live anywhere. I had the exciting opportunity to shape what theater looks and feels like for the culture, on our own terms and to me, that’s the future of theater.”

Set in 2013 Harlem, and based on true events in Callender’s life, Spades: The Play follows a close-knit group of twenty-somethings as they gather for their weekly spades game at a friend’s house. As the cards are dealt, playful banter turns to honest conversation about love, friendship, and the blurred lines between the two. The production stars Broderick Clavery (Extrapolations) as “Gill” and Akilah A. Walker (The Chi) as “Cori,” with Derrick Alexander as “Andre” and Erin Nicole Washington as “Nefertiti.”

The tour kicks off with an exclusive one-night-only performance at the historic Studio Museum in Harlem on September 3.

Each stop on the tour is hosted at a culturally centric venue. The run includes Culture House DC, a former Black church dating to the 1800s; Cam Kirk Studios in Atlanta; Wendy Raquel Robinson’s Amazing Grace Conservatory in Los Angeles; and Fire House Loft in New Orleans. It closes in Miami during Art Basel.

Spades: The Play Tour Dates

September 9-20: Washington, D.C. (Culture House DC)

September 23-October 18: Los Angeles, California (Amazing Grace Conservatory)

October 21-November 15: Atlanta, Georgia (Cam Kirk Studios)

November 18-29: New Orleans, Louisiana (Fire House Loft)

December 2-6: Miami, Florida

Tickets are available exclusively through Posh.

Melissa McCarthy is getting into the holiday spirit with Margie Claus.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation announced Thursday that director Kirk DeMicco’s animated feature will hit theaters Nov. 12, 2027, shifting a week later than its previous release date. The studio also announced that Jim Gaffigan will voice Santa, while Andrew Scott is set as Jack Frost. Annie Mumolo, Georgette Falcone, Octavia Spencer, Gary Farmer, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Cedric Yarbrough and Maria Bakalova also join the film alongside previously announced castmembers McCarthy and Cole Escola.

Margie Claus centers on McCarthy as Santa’s loving wife, who must venture to the dangerous South Pole to rescue her husband and save Christmas.

Also hitting theaters that weekend is Paramount Pictures’ adaptation of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow starring Daisy Edgar-Jones. With shifting back a week, Margie Claus will no longer go head-to-head with Olivia Wilde’s holiday comedy Naughty starring Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage, which Universal releases in theaters Nov. 7, 2027.

DeMicco helms Margie Claus from a script by Ben Falcone and Damon Jones. Meghan Trainor will write and produce original songs, as will Falcone and Jones. Producers for Margie Claus include McCarthy and Falcone for On the Day Productions, alongside Michelle L.M. Wong

“I love Christmas so much, and so does Margie Claus,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Our story is about showing up for the people you love the most at the holidays, and it’s a reminder that you don’t have to be perfect to be lovable. It’s been so special to make this movie with Ben, Kirk, Michelle, Damon and are you kidding me? We got Meghan Trainor, Chef’s kiss! Ben and I can’t wait to get on our sleigh next November and throw Christmas cookie and ugly sweater parties at theaters across the globe. We’ve always wanted to tour the amazing movie theaters all over the world, and this is the perfect way to do it. We can’t wait to see you there! Ho Ho Ho!!”