What The Diplomat cast said about David Gyasi’s exit as Austin Dennison’s death was ‘shocking’

Austin Dennison’s death was one of the biggest shocks in The Diplomat season 4, so here’s what the cast and showrunner have actually said about David Gyasi’s character being killed off.

David Gyasi plays Austin Dennison, the UK Foreign Secretary who has been a key part of Kate Wyler’s diplomatic world since the first season. But in season 4, things take a pretty unexpected turn when Austin is killed while on an assignment in India in episode 3.

The news is delivered to Kate (Keri Russell) and Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) by Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear), who also resigns shortly afterwards.

It’s a major change for the show, especially because Kate and Austin had developed a close professional relationship over the previous seasons, which also turned romantic in season 3.

So, what have the people behind The Diplomat actually said about Austin’s death? Here’s everything they’ve said.

Keri Russell said Austin’s death was ‘very shocking’

Keri Russell, who plays Kate Wyler, has worked closely with David Gyasi since the show began, and their characters’ relationship became more complicated after their romantic storyline in Season 3.

Reacting to the twist, Russell told PEOPLE, “That was very shocking. I think people will be really shocked about that.”

She then explained, “I think it’s an interesting weight for the cast to process that because, in this world, things like that happen. I mean, they’re not in the army, but they’re in the line of fire. They’re travelling all the time, they’re in dangerous places, and things like this happen. You lose people along the way.”

Russell also said that the show would explore the wider impact of the death, saying it was about “how it affects each character and how it affects everything.”

Rufus Sewell called Austin’s death a ‘shocker’

Sewell’s response was pretty straightforward. Talking about Austin’s death, Rufus Sewell, who plays Hal Wyler, said, “What a shocker.”

He also described it as a “very shocking” twist.

Austin’s death is particularly significant for Hal and Kate because the pair have to deal with the news together, while also navigating the political consequences that follow. With Austin gone and Trowbridge stepping down as Prime Minister, the familiar political setup that has shaped much of the series is suddenly looking very different.

And that’s exactly the sort of change the show’s creators wanted to explore in season 4.

Debora Cahn explained why Austin had to die

Debora Cahn, the creator and showrunner of The Diplomat, explained, “The initial conception for the series was that we were going to go to a different country every year.”

However, the cast and the British political characters had become such an important part of the show that the story stayed in the UK for much longer than originally planned.

She continued, “And the dynamics of the U.K., the British actors that we had, we were having such an amazing experience and felt like there was so much story there to tell that we stayed with it for a very long time.”

“For three seasons, Kate, as U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., had been ‘always negotiating with the same people’,” she explained.

For Cahn, Austin’s death and Trowbridge’s resignation offered a way to shake up that familiar dynamic and force Kate to start again.

She also said the twist “shocked” her.

The showrunner said the characters needed to rebuild from scratch

Cahn also explained why Austin’s death fits into the reality of working in diplomacy. She said, “I think there’s something that’s really integral to the experience of an ambassador. You’re going in, and you’re starting from scratch a lot, and you’ve built something with somebody who isn’t there anymore because their party got voted out or something happened to them or whatever it is.”

She continued, “And it almost felt wrong to not put them in a situation where they had to kind of rebuild from the ground up in a world where they felt like they had finally gotten their feet on the ground.”

Basically, the death forces Kate to deal with a world in which the people she has come to rely on can suddenly disappear. She has to work out what comes next while dealing with the personal impact of losing someone who had become important to her.

It also means the show can explore new political relationships rather than continuing with the same familiar dynamics.

For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page.