'The Diplomat' star reveals bizarre request that signalled his character's shocking exit

Roy Kinnear, who famously portrayed the U.K. prime minister in Netflix's hit series, The Diplomat, received an unusual request from the show's creator, Debora Cahn.

While boarding a flight to Lithuania, he recalled getting a text from the showrunner asking whether he could sing an aria — a solo song generally featured in operas.

“I got a message from Deb saying, ‘Do you think you’d be able to sing this?’ And she sent me the aria,” the actor remembered in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Being an on-screen PM singing doesn't work as part of the character, Kinnear recounted his thoughts at the time.

“And I thought, ‘Why on earth would I be required to do that?’ And I said, ‘I think I could, but how did you know I could sing?’

But then Cahn explained a scene that goes back to season two.

"And she said, “Do you remember it? I think it was at the beginning of season two; there was a funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral, and the whole congregation was asked to sing a hymn, and I could hear your voice.’ I thought, ‘Interesting. ’"

So, for Kinner's character exit in season four, Cahn kept the detail and used it for his departure.

"And she’d obviously held on to that for two and a half seasons and brought it back. So I thought, ‘OK, how does that fit into why he might be resigning?'”

The Diplomat is airing on Netflix.