“A terribly flawed woman is now the president, and only we know just how flawed.”

The Diplomat Season 3 trailer picks up right where we left off in the Season 2 finale, with Kate (Keri Russell), Hal (Rufus Sewell), and Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) finding out that President Rayburn (Michael McKean) has just died — and Grace is now the commander in chief. 

“It’s second by second what happens, which is really interesting,” Russell tells Tudum of the opening scenes of Season 3. “They go through all the protocol, the whole breakdown of what happens when there is a death of a president.”

Amidst all the chaos in the clip, Grace finds out President Rayburn was on the phone to Hal when he died, and she demands to know the purpose of the call. “I thought I was warning the commander in chief he had a rogue deputy — which he did,” Hal tells her.

While Grace reels over this revelation, Hal is already looking at Grace’s succession as an opportunity for Kate and for himself. “You will be in the White House, watching what she does at all times,” he tells Kate, clearly envisioning his wife becoming vice president. But Kate isn’t feeling quite so opportunistic. “I’m not walking around in the middle of a constitutional crisis with a résumé stapled to my forehead,” she replies. 

Nonetheless, the ambassador can’t help but rise to the occasion. “Kate is at her best in a crisis,” creator and executive producer Debora Cahn tells Tudum. “She’s about action. She’s about problem-solving. The best situation for her when hit with something that emotional is just to bury it and move forward. And that’s what she does.” 

Those abilities may also work in her favor when it comes to impressing the brand-new president. Executive producer Janice Williams agrees that Kate’s clearheadedness is key. “She is the one person that Grace can really look to to give a clear, unemotional answer,” she tells Tudum.  

We also meet Grace’s husband (played by Bradley Whitford), or — as he introduces himself to Hal — “Todd Penn, first lady.” And Eidra (Ali Ahn) fears she’s going to be fired. Then there’s a handsome gentleman (Aidan Turner) who Kate seems to be getting close to during a drinks reception. 

In addition to new faces, there’s fear old secrets might bubble to the surface. As Hal points out in the trailer, there’s a chance that the fact that Grace was the one who came up with the idea to attack the British warship might come out. And if it does? “It’s catastrophic.”

The Diplomat Season 3 premieres Oct. 16.