“A terribly flawed woman is now the president, and only we know just how flawed.”

The Diplomat Season 3 trailer picks up right where we left off in the Season 2 finale, with Kate (Keri Russell), Hal (Rufus Sewell), and Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) finding out that President Rayburn (Michael McKean) has just died — and Grace is now the commander in chief.

“It’s second by second what happens, which is really interesting,” Russell tells Tudum of the opening scenes of Season 3. “They go through all the protocol, the whole breakdown of what happens when there is a death of a president.”

Amidst all the chaos in the clip, Grace finds out President Rayburn was on the phone to Hal when he died, and she demands to know the purpose of the call. “I thought I was warning the commander in chief he had a rogue deputy — which he did,” Hal tells her.

While Grace reels over this revelation, Hal is already looking at Grace’s succession as an opportunity for Kate and for himself. “You will be in the White House, watching what she does at all times,” he tells Kate, clearly envisioning his wife becoming vice president. But Kate isn’t feeling quite so opportunistic. “I’m not walking around in the middle of a constitutional crisis with a résumé stapled to my forehead,” she replies.

Nonetheless, the ambassador can’t help but rise to the occasion. “Kate is at her best in a crisis,” creator and executive producer Debora Cahn tells Tudum. “She’s about action. She’s about problem-solving. The best situation for her when hit with something that emotional is just to bury it and move forward. And that’s what she does.”

A gentleman in a tuxedo looks to the left with trepidation. A woman with a serious expression holds a phone to her ear and covers her mouth with her hand, appearing to listen intently in a dimly lit room. A man and a woman dressed in business attire are smiling and shaking hands in an ornate, elegant room with gold accents and chandeliers. A smiling older man with gray hair and a beard sits on a couch holding a martini glass in one hand and a cloth in the other, looking relaxed and content. A woman with a serious expression sits at a desk holding papers and a pen, appearing focused and professional in an office setting. Five people wearing dark formal coats and gloves stand side by side in front of an ornate, heavy wooden door, looking serious and composed. A woman in a blazer stands in the foreground looking serious, while a man in a suit stands in the background of an office with papers pinned to a bulletin board. A man in a suit and a woman in a black sequin dress are holding drinks and having a conversation in an elegantly decorated, warmly lit room with lamps and paintings. An older woman with short hair, wearing a red sweater over a white collared shirt, sits on a gray sofa and looks serious in a softly lit room. A woman with short blonde hair, wearing a light gray blouse, sits in a high-backed chair with a patterned fabric and looks thoughtfully ahead in a softly lit room. A man in a light suit and a woman in a white dress stand smiling and looking ahead at a formal event, surrounded by guests holding drinks in an elegantly decorated room. A man in a dress shirt and tie sits on a bed with his arms crossed, looking thoughtful, with a laptop open on his lap in a softly lit, ornate room. A woman with a serious expression sits in the back seat of a car next to a man wearing dark sunglasses and a suit, both looking out the window.

Those abilities may also work in her favor when it comes to impressing the brand-new president. Executive producer Janice Williams agrees that Kate’s clearheadedness is key. “She is the one person that Grace can really look to to give a clear, unemotional answer,” she tells Tudum.

We also meet Grace’s husband (played by Bradley Whitford), or — as he introduces himself to Hal — “Todd Penn, first lady.” And Eidra (Ali Ahn) fears she’s going to be fired. Then there’s a handsome gentleman (Aidan Turner) who Kate seems to be getting close to during a drinks reception.

In addition to new faces, there’s fear old secrets might bubble to the surface. As Hal points out in the trailer, there’s a chance that the fact that Grace was the one who came up with the idea to attack the British warship might come out. And if it does? “It’s catastrophic.”

The Diplomat Season 3 premieres Oct. 16.