The Diplomat season 4 unexpectedly killed off a main character, and we didn't see it coming

Warning: This post contains spoilers from The Diplomat season 4 from this point forward.

The Diplomat season 4 has arrived with a new season that will keep fans firmly planted on the edge of their seats. We would expect nothing less from the Emmy Award-winning Netflix original political thriller, which launches into its new episodes right where season 3 ended. Kate learns that Grace and Hal stole Russia's Poseidon weapon, sending the administration into wildly tricky territory.

From there, it's a downward spiral of power struggles and issues of trust within the Penn-Wyler administration. The first episode of The Diplomat season 4 finds President Penn facing a direct attack, as there's an assassination attempt on her life while on UK soil, a sign that she's not making new fans after taking office and a triggering event for Grace to keep toeing the line.

Throughout The Diplomat season 4, a number of Grace's decision create a tense environment between the administration and its allies, particularly the United Kingdom, where Kate is stationed as the ambassador. Early into the season, Kate keeps a huge secret about the Poseidon weapon, but it comes out in an unfortunate way alongside the reveal of a major character death.

What happened to Austin Dennison in The Diplomat season 4?

In The Diplomat season 4 episode 3, Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) reveals to Kate, Hal, and Eidra that his foreign secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) has died. Dennison was killed in a helicopter accident that also took the lives of everyone else on board. The helicopter accident takes place off-camera, as does Dennison's death as it's only announced in dialogue.

Gyasi, who had been a series regular season 1, doesn't appear at all in The Diplomat season 4. Since his character was killed off, Gyasi isn't expected to return should the political thriller return for additional seasons. His exit wasn't announced ahead of time, meaning Dennison dying came as just as much of a shock to viewers as it did to Kate, Hal, and Eidra.

Dennison and Kate grew close once she took her post as the ambassador in the UK since he was effectively her counterpart in the UK government. They even had something of a will-they-or-won't-they connection, which eventually stalled. Kate struggles with Dennison's death, though she doesn't dwell on it because she doesn't really have a chance to breathe at all in season 4.

Trowbridge only revealed Dennison's death to Kate, Hal, and Eidra because Hal had negatively reacted to Trowbridge's odd behavior during a meeting. What Hal viewed as demeaning indifference was actually grief and discomfort before telling Dennison's wife about his death. Ultimately, Trowbridge breaks the news after Hall plays hardball and tells the truth about Poseidon.

The entire encounter eventually leads Kate to blackmail Trowbridge with the potential leak of the truth that he tried to kill Margaret Roylin. Trowbridge resigns as prime minister, leading Bethan Vaughn (Jodie Whittaker) to take his place. Kate's blackmail from the president is viewed as the reason for his resignation. Kinnear, another series regular, doesn't appear in season 4 after Trowbridge resigns.

It's unclear if Trowbridge has been permanently written out of the series and Kinnear will also exit the show as a series regular or if he could be back in the future. We also don't know if Whittaker would be promoted to the main cast next season. But the series still experienced a casting shakeup with a big exit, another possible exit, and the promotions of Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, and Nana Mensah.

Watch The Diplomat only on Netflix.

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