‘It just worked out really perfectly': ‘The Diplomat' casting director on landing Allison Janney as the vice president
"When we started Season 1, Allison Janney was always on the top of the mind, right? Someone for anything," casting director Julie Schubert tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Casting Directors panel. "[She's] super brilliant, incredible performer, funny, twisted in the right ways, grounded — all of the things. She's been in the forefront of conversation since since the very beginning of this. And it just worked out really perfectly for this one."
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Janney plays Vice President Grace Penn and appears in the last two episodes of the six-episode second season. Scheduling the seven-time Emmy winner for those two installments was also a "process." "She was on another series at the time too, so in terms of availability, that was a question," Schubert continues. "Could we make this work? Could we figure it out? And ultimately, thank goodness we did, because, ooh, tell me she's not brilliant in this show."
For her performance, Janney has already received Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Screen Actors Guild nominations. The SAG bid is the most impressive since the group does not differentiate between lead and supporting in its TV categories, and Janney made the cut alongside The Diplomat star Keri Russell. She delivers a firecracker of a monologue in the finale before a big twist in the final moments sets her up for an even bigger third season. President Rayburn (Michael McKean) has died, making Penn the new POTUS.
SEE Watch interviews with 2025 Emmy contenders
As a fan of the show, Schubert, who won an Emmy for House of Cards, doesn't want to know what's going to happen, but "when you're casting it, obviously you have to." Creator and showrunner Debora Cahn gives her just enough info "to understand what the needs are going to be for the character."
"I feel like it's important, especially for her creative process and for the writers' creative process in general to make sure we as casting directors have all the tools we need," Schubert says. "But whoever we cast, they're going to continue to help develop those characters based on the actors that are in those roles. So things evolve as the show goes on, as the story's being told, as things unfold, and that's really exciting. An actor can help guide story sometimes with who they are."
Janney, who will submit in supporting at the Emmys, playing a VP-turned-POTUS draws parallels to her seven seasons as press secretary-turned-chief of staff C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, but Schubert sees little in common between the characters besides both of them working at the White House.
"I think when you actually look at C.J. and then you look at what she did as Grace, they're very different characters, they're very different approaches. And the same person is playing them, and I think that's pretty cool because you are getting an entirely different feel and a different everything. I'm sure Allison would say the same," she says. "You always have that conversation, like, will those who love The West Wing accept someone playing something very different even though it's in the same sort of genre? But in this case there wasn't that much discussion about it because she's just so good, so there was no hesitation. Everybody was all in, 100 percent. I think Allison saw the first season and she read the scripts and talked to Deborah and had all of that process. I think she was on board as well very quickly."
There'll be even more West Wing nostalgia in Season 3. As previously announced, Bradley Whitford will play Penn's husband, Todd Penn. The three-time Emmy winner was another performer the team wanted from the beginning, but he was committed to The Handmaid's Tale.
"It's nice when stars align and there's an opportunity for something kind of great," Schubert says. "And again, he's not playing what he played on The West Wing. And wait till you see it. It's absolutely brilliant."
This article and video are sponsored content by Netflix.
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