From motorcades and snowy fields to helicopters over Winfield House, we delivered seamless invisible visual effects across The Diplomat Season 3 as the season’s sole VFX provider. Led by Illia Afanasiev and show-side VFX Supervisor John Kilshaw, our work supported the show’s high-stakes diplomacy with realism, subtlety, and the right amount of political tension.

We returned as the sole VFX vendor for The Diplomat Season 3, continuing our collaboration with the show’s creative team to deliver invisible visual effects that elevate the storytelling without drawing attention away from the plot. Led by Framestore’s Illia Afanasiev, alongside show-side VFX Supervisor John Kilshaw, our New York team focused on seamless enhancements that blended into the series' grounded, cinematic style across more than 550 shots.

Among the most complex sequences was a CG build of London Stansted Airport, which included a digital plane and airport terminal buildings, matte-painted environments, atmospheric fog, and an extended cityscape complete with lights and distant movement. Earlier in the season, we added helicopters flying in formation above Winfield House and across the London skyline to enhance a key moment of geopolitical tension.

Throughout the series, we handled extensive seasonal transformations, shifting summer settings into snow-covered winter, and vice versa, using a blend of 2D and 3D techniques to deliver photoreal transitions. Other work included CG motorcades weaving through central London, sky replacements for visual continuity, crowd duplication using 2D tiled elements, and greenscreen compositing for high-profile locations like Trafalgar Square and the U.S. Embassy in London.

This season also saw us become more deeply embedded in the creative process. In one pivotal scene, we added subtle 2D camera shake to amplify the emotional intensity of a confrontation, a small but effective contribution to the storytelling.

Marian Golden, VFX Producer for The Diplomat S3, shared her praise for the collaboration: “A+ for this entire season. The Framestore team has been an absolute dream team to work with. I hope they are as proud as I am of the incredible work accomplished. The Diplomat is stronger and better for having Framestore as our VFX team, truly a dream team. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s clear when a team has genuinely enjoyed the work. We’ve seen their heart, soul, and skill in every shot, from the smallest to the most complex. I can’t wait to collaborate with Framestore again.”

“It was a delight to partner up with these amazing clients for another strong season of The Diplomat S3. Now in our second year of collaboration, we've seen an even stronger level of trust from the clients. This season, we were tasked with bringing entire CG airports to life and replicating iconic UK locations such as Trafalgar Square and the U.S. Embassy,” said Illia Afanasiev, Digital Effects Supervisor for The Diplomat S3. “We consistently tackled challenges in close collaboration with the clients, who genuinely valued our creative problem-solving input. The ‘can-do’ attitude from both the clients and the Framestore team allowed the work to flourish, making it a very rewarding experience. We are excited to see the final results on screen once the season is released.”