Netflix users have been left grumbling about new series The Diplomat – but for a rather positive reason.
The TV series, which was compared to The West Wing when it first started in 2023, has returned for a second, with the series rapidly shooting to the top of the streaming service’s most-watched list alongside some new films that are receiving more negative reviews.
Season one introduced viewers to Keri Russell‘s US Ambassador Kate Wyler as she gets caught up in an international crisis, and won fans with its fast-paced narrative and many twists and turns.
While the new episodes have been even more acclaimed than the ones featured in season one, the common complaint is that there just aren’t enough of them: The Diplomat season two has just six episodes, which is two less than the first.
Six episodes is commonplace for a British TV drama, but not that typical for Netflix shows, which usually last for anything from eight to 13 episodes.
Fans are now expressing their frustration over the low episode count on social media, which should be read as praise by the show’s creator Deborah Cahn, who began her career as a writer and producer on The West Wing before working on Homeland.
However, Netflix has good news for fans of the show: a third season is on the way and it was filmed back-to-back with season two, meaning it will most likely arrive in 2025.
Still, this has not abated the anger in the interim: “Whyyyyyy is S2 of The Diplomat only 6 episodes when S1 was 8????” one fan wrote, with another stating: “Six episodes are not enough, I wished it was a 26-episode season. Geopolitical storytelling at its best and I wish I’d been in the writers room. Twisty AF.”
One fan waded in: “We waited 18 months for a six-episode season!? I hate Netflix so much. Please bring back network television with respectable 22-episode seasons.”
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An additional viewer, who has been lapping up season two, also stated on X/Twitter: “Just finished Season 2 and I’m so mad it was only 6 episodes because it was the best 6 episodes I’ve watched all year. I’m trying hard to think of something better I’ve seen in 2024 and honestly I can’t!
One person said that they felt “cheated” by the lower episode count.
The Diplomat is available to stream on Netflix now