What Happens to Margaret Roylin in The Diplomat and Why She’s So Important

Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead for The Diplomat season 2.After being introduced in The Diplomat In the first season, Celia Imrie’s Margaret Roylin plays an even bigger role in the final season of the Netflix political drama, and her arc is very different from the previous season. Imrie is an important part The Diplomat season 2 cast like most of the story cannot progress without Roylin’s involvement. However, she does not have the freedom she had in The Diplomat season 1. Regardless, that doesn’t stop her from being a big part of the plot.

The Diplomat the season 2 finale wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Celia Imrie’s character. Roylin’s connections to Roman Lenkov and Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge make for an explosive Season 2 finale that has been building since the series’ first episode. Excitingly, the drama isn’t over yet, and Roylin’s influence must continue in The Diplomat season 3’s plot – even as she once again shifts into a new type of role.

Margaret Roylin is alive in the Diplomat season 2 finale

Roylin survives Trowbridge’s heated attack

After the car bomb that detonates at the end of The Diplomat season 1, and kills Merritt Grove (Simon Chandler) and Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau), Roylin suddenly becomes impossible to locate. It turns out that she was being held in a CIA safe house in London near Ali Ahn’s Eidra Park. Although knowledge of Roylin’s whereabouts is only available to a select few characters in The Diplomatthe circle becomes wider and wider as season 2 progresses.

After revealing his damning role in the attack on HMS Courageous by Russian mercenary-for-hire Roman Lenkov (Sam Douglas), Roylin is lucky to survive the immediate fallout of sharing the truth with Rory Kinnear’s Trowbridge. Immediately turning to furious violence, Trowbridge attacks his former advisor and causes her to suffer a serious head injury. The moment does not result in Roylin’s death. Then she will probably return in The Diplomat season 3.

The CIA still has Roylin and can’t give up on her now

Roylin being handed over to British authorities would likely be a death sentence

Although there is some discussion after Trowbridge’s attack on Roylin about the possibility of turning Imrie’s character over to the British police, she is ultimately returned to the CIA safe house. The CIA, however, is aware of how much this breaks the rules and is desperate for Trowbridge to approve Roylin’s transfer to British custody. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has no idea how deep the corruption in this government isand is unwilling to cooperate until he has a chance to launch a clandestine investigation into who else was collaborating with Roylin and Grove.

The CIA faces another obstacle when Michael McKean’s President Rayburn is informed that Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) was the original mastermind of the Lenkov hiring plan. The US president is so surprised that he dies of a heart attack, elevating Penn to the position of late president. If the CIA handed over Roylin now, Penn would certainly use every tool at his disposal to get rid of her. This way, Roylin would not be able to tell the British authorities what he knows, which would not have been a problem when Rayburn was still The DiplomatPresident.