Editor’s note : Deadline’s It Starts on the Page (Drama) features standout drama series scripts in 2026 Emmy contention.

With Netflix ‘s The Diplomat , creator and showrunner Debora Cahn is scratching an itch she’s had for most of her career, to pull back the layers of the Foreign Service to understand the people who dedicate their lives to global diplomacy. But, she’s also unexpectedly found herself meditating on something else: marriage.

Over the course of three seasons, viewers have come to know Kate (Keri Russell) and Hal (Rufus Sewell) Wyler as a zany, passionate, whip-smart and occasionally toxic couple whose entire romantic history is wrapped up in their high-stakes careers. They did meet on the job, after all.…