When viewers tune in to Netflix’s hit political thriller The Diplomat, they are invited to feel like a fly on the wall inside some of the world’s most fiercely guarded and politically powerful rooms. But while the series is driven by high-stakes drama and tense international maneuvering, it rarely offers its characters the comfort of spaces that reflect their personal lives intimately.
According to production designer Curt Beech, the core philosophy behind the show’s visual landscape is about bringing people together physically while keeping them entirely isolated emotionally within environments ordinary citizens never get to see.
"The places may be historical, but they’re almost never personal," Beech explains, highlighting what sets the series apart from standard television design. "Usually, we’re creating someone’s bedroom or their house, and we dig into their family history and who they are and what they like. We don’t get any of that here because the spaces that they inhabit are not theirs. They are almost always visitors."
The fourth season of The Diplomat opens with a dramatic, explosive sequence. In the premiere episode, US President Grace Penn—played by Allison Janney—survives an assassination attempt just outside Windsor Castle. The violent incident leaves the president increasingly unpredictable, throwing her husband Todd (Bradley Whitford), Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), and US Ambassador to the UK Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) into a tailspin of political uncertainty and crisis management. The narrative spans multiple continents, carrying characters from the historic grounds of Windsor Castle to Washington, DC, and ultimately concluding on a nail-biting cliffhanger during a G7 summit in Lucca, Italy.
To bring this sprawling, globe-trotting geopolitical narrative to life, Beech utilized a mix of returning locations, newly built sets at Steiner Studios in New York, and iconic architectural marvels across England, New York, and Italy. Here is a breakdown of the key settings that define Season 4.
Windsor Castle
Season 4 hits the ground running with an impromptu visit to Windsor Castle. Just as the US envoy prepares to depart the royal residence for a flight back to the United States, President Penn is shot by an unidentified assailant. To recreate Windsor Castle and its surrounding grounds on screen, Beech pulled off an intricate logistical feat by combining nine different real-world locations.
The exterior shots and the inner courtyard were filmed at Burghley House, while Belvoir Castle, Lancaster House, and the British Foreign Office provided the lavish interiors. Meanwhile, back in the United States, production utilized the Woolworth Estate, the St. Josaphat Monastery Library, and the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. The grandiose, heavily fortified panic room where Kate and Hal find themselves locked down immediately following the shooting was filmed inside the crypt of an Upper West Side church in New York City.
"It’s a lot of different architectural styles, but that is typical of these houses," Beech says, noting the piecemeal history of such ancient British estates. "Windsor has a bunch of things going on because these houses are very, very old, and they’ve been built during different centuries with different people in charge of the construction. We embraced that. We also have a mix of things that are accurate to Windsor Castle and things that aren’t."
The Aircraft Carrier
Immediately following the assassination attempt, President Penn is rushed onto Marine One and airlifted to a docked United States aircraft carrier to undergo emergency surgery. For this sequence, the production used the parking lot at Steiner Studios for the dramatic helicopter landing, while a specialized Marine training facility in New York City was transformed to house the interior carrier sets.
"We did real takeoffs and landings with the helicopter," Beech notes. "While it was on the ground, we dressed the interior because Marine One feels like a private jet inside. It’s very luxurious and well appointed. But you can’t add weight to a helicopter like that without going through a lot of different FAA approvals, so we couldn’t keep it dressed while flying."
Winfield House
As in previous seasons, the exterior of Winfield House—the official residence of the United States ambassador in London—was filmed at Wrotham Park, a sprawling estate located in Hertfordshire, England. Interior spaces were split between the real estate and custom-built stages at Steiner Studios.
"There’s a blue room, a library, and a red room in the real building," Beech says. "The foyer is also there. The green room, the Wedgewood hallway, and the blue study are on stage in New York. It takes a lot of coordination to keep track. The actors are incredible because they’re able to tap back into whatever they were doing at that moment two months ago, and make it feel like they just turned the corner and are walking into a room."
The US Embassy
The striking architecture of the US Embassy in London’s Nine Elms district was originally constructed on a London soundstage for earlier seasons of the show before the entire set was shipped across the Atlantic and rebuilt at Steiner Studios for Season 3. For Season 4, the physical layout remained largely unchanged.
"We moved some furniture around to get better lighting, but nothing major has changed in those spaces," Beech says. The production did manage to capture one key scene locally, featuring CIA station chief Eidra Park (Ali Ahn) and deputy chief Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh) meeting just outside the real embassy. "That was right around the corner from the embassy, which was incredible to see," Beech adds. "That building is in so many different shows now and it’s beautiful."
Eidra’s Apartment
Eidra Park’s sleek, modern apartment—where Stuart eventually moves in as their romantic relationship deepens—was filmed inside a real residence located in Tribeca.
"This is another space that’s personal, but not," Beech explains. "We told the story that she moves a lot for the safety of her position. She’s never in the same place for very long. So it’s very stark and doesn’t have a lot of personality."
The White House
For the fourth season, Beech introduced notable alterations to the White House set, deliberately moving away from the familiar Oval Office seen in past seasons to center the action inside President Penn’s private study.
"The president typically does have a study, and it’s right off the Oval Office, but it’s very small," Beech says. "You see pictures of Obama sitting in his. We made a very large study for her that has three separate zones—a work zone, a meeting zone, and a power zone where her desk is. That does not exist in the real White House, but it does in our White House."
In another memorable sequence, Todd Penn can be seen swimming laps in the White House pool—a feature that also does not exist in the modern executive mansion. The scene was filmed in the historic basement of the Woolworth Building in Tribeca. "There used to be a pool years and years ago in the White House," Beech notes. "They plastered it over, and it’s now the press briefing room. But you see in the old pictures there was a really beautiful room with arched windows and that’s where the pool was."
10 Downing Street
Though 10 Downing Street has featured prominently in prior seasons, the production had to construct an entirely new set for Season 4. "That was filmed at a location in the UK that was no longer available, so we built it on our stage," Beech says. "We also used the Steinway Mansion in New York for the building’s iconic stairs."
When a new prime minister assumes power midway through the season, keen-eyed viewers will notice subtle changes to the office decor. "It got a bit more sparse, indicating that she had just gotten there," Beech says. "They had moved him out; she hadn’t completely moved in yet. So some pictures are off the walls, and the lamp on his desk changed. It’s small stuff."
The exterior of 10 Downing Street was created using a clever hybrid of location shooting and studio craft. "We wound up building the doorway and the lectern in a parking lot in Brooklyn with a green screen, and then we added it together with what we shot in London on that street," Beech explains.
The Prime Minister’s Residence
Providing a rare window into the private life of British leadership, Kate visits the newly minted prime minister at the family home of her husband. Beech utilized two distinct British and American properties to construct the vast manor house, shooting the entry gates at Ingatestone Hall in Essex while filming interiors inside a residence on Long Island.
"In England with these huge estates, it’s very expensive to keep them going, so the family compresses to living in one wing of the house," Beech says. "We wanted to tell that story about her house, and there’s a coldness to it. Her office space is in a room that is gigantic for an office. And there are heaters everywhere."
Lucca, Italy
The season barrels toward its conclusion with a high-tension G7 summit in Lucca, Italy. The production relocated to Italy for a grueling six-week shoot, utilizing eight distinct locations. Among them were Villa Viesca—the former summer residence of Salvatore and Wanda Ferragamo—and Dimora Ghirlandaio, a Tuscan resort, both of which doubled as the villas where the American delegation stays during the international gathering. Meanwhile, the G7 political meetings themselves were filmed across three stunning historical properties: Villa Reale di Marlia, Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano, and Villa Medicea La Petraia.
"We were going play Florence for Lucca, but we leaned into Lucca as Lucca, and it felt better and more authentic," Beech says. "We went to the Pitti Palace in Florence and determined that it wasn’t right. Most of the time, the vibe is very modern in these meetings. We decided to make it very classical. We embraced the vibe of this incredible room with floor-to-ceiling frescoes, and we built custom desks that had little fresco elements that matched the walls. These meetings are very bespoke, so everything is always created for them. We did that, but in a slightly different manner."
