Erm, what is Hal about to say? The Diplomat season 4 ending sparks wild season 5 theory

*Warning: Major spoilers ahead for The Diplomat season 4*

If you thought The Diplomat season 4 was about to give us a nice, straightforward ending, think again. The Netflix series finishes with a huge cliffhanger involving Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), and fans are already convinced they know what he’s about to say.

But before we get into it, there’s a lot to unpack about how we got here. Throughout season 4, US President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) has been desperately trying to contain the fallout from a secret operation involving a dangerous Russian nuclear weapon. 

The Americans stole the weapon from British waters, leaving the UK caught up in a big ol’ political crisis. And it’s a situation that costs the country its Prime Minister. 

After Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) discovers what the Americans have done, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) tries to stop him from exposing the operation. She does so by blackmailing him with footage of him attacking his former adviser Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie).

Trowbridge resigns, with Jodie Whittaker’s Bethan Vaughn taking over as PM. Except Vaughn isn’t particularly interested in helping the Americans clean up their mess.

Meanwhile, things are falling apart inside Grace’s own administration. Kate has become increasingly uncomfortable with the President’s risky decisions, and she’s far from the only one.

Everything comes to a head in the finale at the G7 summit. Kate, Secretary of State Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval) and White House Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) ultimately decide they can no longer stand behind her. They announce their resignations before walking out. 

Despite being Grace’s own Vice President, Hal eventually joins them – although we don’t see if he resigned or not. Either way, it’s a pretty surprising decision given how hard Hal has fought for his position. But after Grace publicly humiliates him when he tries to intervene, even he appears ready to walk away.

Then comes the final scene. With reporters waiting outside, Kate turns to Hal and introduces him as the Vice President of the United States. He steps forward to address the press, seemingly about to make a huge announcement… Except we never hear a single word of it.

Just as Hal says, “Good morning,” the screen cuts to black, leaving us with one big question: what the heck is he about to say?

The Diplomat season 4 ending sparks convincing theory

Obviously, we won’t know for sure what he says unless The Diplomat season 5 goes ahead (more on this shortly). But some fans have a theory that he’s not resigning at all. Instead, they think he could be preparing to invoke the 25th Amendment against Grace.

In the US, if a Vice President and a majority of the cabinet invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, the President is temporarily stripped of power and the VP immediately takes over. In which case, Hal would take over from Grace. 

Given everything that’s happened with Grace and now the walkouts, it’s easy to see why some have landed on this theory. As one Redditor wrote, “Since we don’t know what exactly Hal said, do you think he’s going to invoke the 25th amendment or that he just resigned?”

Another replied, “I suspected Hal would stand up and walk out too, but I was hoping for the 25th Amendment.” But a third person pointed out that we don’t see him resign – we only see him on the other side walking out. 

“They haven’t shown what he said to come outside. He is a master strategist whose political actions are well thought out and strategic in nature,” they continued. 

“Our guess is that he will expose all of her actions forcing her to resign or he will invoke the 25th with the support of the cabinet. We will need to wait till the next season to know what he says and what he has done!”

Other fans reckon Hal could instead be preparing to expose Grace’s involvement in the HMS Courageous attack, potentially forcing her to resign. And there’s still the possibility that he’s simply about to announce his own resignation.

The Diplomat cast tease Hal’s secret ‘master plan’ 

Whatever the case, the cast have plenty of thoughts about what Hal’s about to say and the implications it could have for a potential fifth chapter. But, of course, no one knows exactly what it is just yet. 

Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum about the unspoken moment between Kate and Hal, Rufus Sewell said, “No matter what they’ve been through, no matter where their relationship is now, they are in sync with what each other thinks. 

“The story of this season is Kate knows he must have some inner master plan. There must be some end game. There must be some counter-narrative, and he won’t share it… She has faith in him, but faith can be shaken.”

Meanwhile, Allison Janney explained how season 4 of the Netflix series has been a “lonely and scary” place for Grace. Even though it was hard for Grace at that moment, it doesn’t sound like she’s going down without a fight. 

“It was hard to watch them do that, knowing they were doing the right thing, but Grace is so infuriated and just tries to brush it aside: ‘This means nothing. Keep going. These are just sick people.’ She’s going to spin it that way,” Janney said. 

“I can’t wait to see what Hal says to the press. I thought, ‘Is he going to be on my side? What is he going to say?’ That’s a hell of a cliffhanger, right?”

Will there be a season 5?

The good news is that this cliffhanger and the interviews with cast and crew very much sound like they’re keen on The Diplomat season 5 going ahead. Now it just needs to get the greenlight from Netflix. 

We don’t have a timeline to go on given the past two seasons were confirmed in advance. But season 2 got the greenlight 11 days after season 1 dropped, so it’s not completely unusual that there’s no season 5 renewal just yet. 

As we know, with Netflix it’s a numbers game, and season 4 is already high up on the top 10 chart in multiple countries. 

While we wait for updates, The Diplomat showrunner and creator Debora Cahn spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the ending she has in mind. “I’ve always had an idea of what the end is,” she said. “As with everything on the show, I’m always delighted to have that idea blown out of the water by a better idea, but so far it hasn’t happened.”

When ScreenRant asked if a writers’ room has been formed for a potential season 5, Cahn replied, “You can ask, but I can’t answer.”

The cast are certainly game if the show does return. As Sewell told Decider, “Fingers crossed,” while Janney told EW, “I hope we get a season 5. What is she gonna do? How’s she gonna top it?”

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Featured image credit: Netflix