Rufus Sewell on the Constant Complexity of Hal Wyler in The Diplomat
Watch the full conversation below!
There are very few television characters as endlessly fascinating and difficult to pin down as Hal Wyler in The Diplomat. Across three seasons, Rufus Sewell has crafted a character who is simultaneously charming, manipulative, vulnerable, strategic, deeply romantic, and entirely pragmatic and often within the same scene. According to Sewell, none of that is accidental.
Speaking about Hal’s evolution across the series, Sewell described his approach to the character not as someone fundamentally changing over time, but rather as someone gradually being revealed layer by layer.
“It’s a matter of revelation and not change. The DNA was all there in those first few scenes to me.”
That philosophy has become central to the way Sewell views both Hal and his complicated relationship with Kate. As the series has progressed, the shifting power dynamics between them both professionally and personally it has forced both characters into increasingly unfamiliar territory. Yet Sewell relishes exactly that kind of instability within storytelling.
“We’re playing people that are constantly winning in order to lose and losing in order to win.”
For Sewell, dramatic tension only works when success comes with the threat of collapse attached to it. He laughed while explaining his personal acting philosophy through an analogy about a sports car:
“If your character gets a beautiful car, it’s got to end up in the river. Otherwise, you’re just playing winners.”
That sense of built-in failure is part of what keeps Hal compelling. Sewell has little interest in portraying polished, untouchable authority figures. Instead, he gravitates toward contradictions, vulnerabilities, and moments where a character’s confidence begins to fracture beneath the surface.
Season three offered exactly that opportunity. Professionally, Hal suddenly finds himself moving closer to power than ever before with the possibility of becoming Vice President. Personally, however, his marriage with Kate becomes increasingly unstable. Sewell explained that what interested him most was not ambition for ambition’s sake, but Hal’s deeply pragmatic understanding of access and influence.
“If you’re not in the room, it doesn’t matter what you say.”
In Sewell’s eyes, Hal and Kate are far more alike than audiences sometimes realize. Both are intensely ambitious, highly intelligent, and deeply committed to what they believe they can accomplish politically. Their differences often come down to presentation rather than ideology.
“They are kin. They are both killers. They both know how to read a room.”
Part of what makes the dynamic between Hal and Kate so compelling is the way their private relationship constantly collides with their public personas. Sewell loves the contrast between the polished political façade and the messy humanity underneath it all.
“This is a show about backstage and front of house.”
That duality becomes especially pronounced as their separation unfolds while they continue needing to present a united front politically. Sewell noted that the strain of performing that version of marriage actually makes their private moments together even more emotionally charged.
“Their time alone is even more charged.”
One of the aspects Sewell most appreciates about Deborah Cahn’s writing is the refusal to simplify characters into heroes or villains. He sees Hal not as a liar, but as someone who compartmentalizes information according to what feels useful or necessary in a given moment.
“He is not a liar and a dissembler. He’s someone who knows when to withhold certain facts and information for the best as far as he’s concerned.”
That distinction is important to Sewell because he approaches every scene from the perspective that Hal genuinely believes in what he’s doing. Even when viewers may question his choices, Sewell insists that Hal’s motivations always feel emotionally truthful to him.
Q&A on the series The Diplomat with actor Rufus Sewell. Moderated by Mara Webster.
