From WHY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Briger, Infateri Gross.

Today, actor Carrie Russell. She stars in the new Netflix political drama The Diplomat,

as a foreign service officer tapped to become the American ambassador to the UK.

Russell also starred in the series Felicity and the Americans.

Her career started at 15, when Anna Wimm she went to a casting call for the all-new Mickey Mouse Club.

You know, you get in, finally, and he says, you know, what do you have prepared?

Can you read this little script about a mermaid trying to recycle?

She booked the gig.

Also, we'll talk with best-selling nonfiction author David Graham about his new book, The Wager,

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder.

And Maureen Corrigan will review a book investigating an IRA attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher.

That's all coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.

This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Briger, Infateri Gross.

Our first guest, Carrie Russell, is in the new Netflix political drama The Diplomat.

The show's creator was a writer on Homeland and the West Wing.

In The Diplomat, Carrie Russell stars as Kate Wiler, a career foreign service officer

with an excellent reputation for handling international crises, often behind the scenes.

Her husband, Howe, played by Rufus Suel, is also a diplomat and former ambassador

whose heroic and sometimes rash behavior has embraced uncertain halls of Washington

and cursed to others.

Kate is preparing to go to Afghanistan when an attack on a British aircraft

off the coast of Iran to rails those plans.

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