It aired on CBS from 2014 to 2019 and stars Téa Leoni, Tim Daly, Keith Carradine, Erich Bergen, Patina Miller, Geoffrey Arend, Sebastian Arcelus, Željko Ivanek, Bebe Neuwirth, Sara Ramirez, Wallis Currie-Wood, Kathrine Herzer, and Evan Roe.
After graduating from high school, Henry attended the University of Virginia on a scholarship, where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Adams, and was a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.
He resigned in "Reading the Signs" after failing to receive Congressional support for his operations in Afghanistan, and upon taking his leave, Henry and his team were awarded the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation (having turned down the individual National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal believing he wasn't in service long enough to qualify for such an award).
Before entering politics, Conrad is the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he serves as the mentor and boss of then-CIA Analyst Elizabeth McCord.
[2] In 2008, Conrad runs an unsuccessful campaign to become Governor of California; after the loss, he meets his future White House Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Željko Ivanek).
[3] In the third season, Conrad fails to receive his party's nomination for a second term as president, losing to Pennsylvania governor Sam Evans, after revamping the United States' entire foreign policy for military base locations.
After a hard campaign, Dalton narrowly wins the swing state of Ohio, deadlocking the Electoral College and staging a contingent election in the House of Representatives.
In the fifth season, Blake is fired as Secretary McCord's personal assistant—per an agreement between the two that he would seek career advancement within a year—and then rehired as her assistant policy advisor.
Jay was initially reluctant to work for Elizabeth, particularly as he had been preparing to accompany Secretary Marsh on a potential White House bid when he challenged President Conrad Dalton in the 2016 primaries.
At the end of the episode, Jay is revealed to have been working for Elizabeth the whole time, his firing having been organized between them so he could leak false information and outflank her opponents.
In the fifth season, Jay meets a world-famous Dutch chess player named Annalies De Runnow while stuck in an Irish airport.
Jay returns in the sixth-season finale for Stevie McCord and Dmitri Petrov's wedding at the White House, where he is warmly embraced by Elizabeth.
The show explores Stevie's challenges with her romantic partners, Arthur Gilroy, her 39-year-old boss while working at Microloan; her childhood friend Harrison Dalton, who was newly out of rehab and still struggling with addiction; Jareth Glover, a British astrophysicist to whom she was engaged for over a year before calling it off; and Alexander Mehranov, who turns out to be Henry's CIA asset/analyst Dmitri Petrov; she eventually reconciles with Dmitri and they marry in the sixth-season finale.
Early into Elizabeth's term as Secretary of State, Russell frequently clashed with her due to her unorthodox diplomatic style and lack of political experience.
A law school graduate, Nadine is a veteran politician who worked for Secretary of State Vincent Marsh since he was a Senator, and the two of them carried on a six-year affair that ended with his death.
In the fourth season, Nadine retired from the State Department and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to her son and his girlfriend, who were expecting their first child.
He was succeeded by Elizabeth McCord, who investigated his death and learned that he was part of an attempted coup d'état against Iran, but was killed by his co-conspirators when he began having doubts about the plan.
[9] A flag officer in the United States Navy, Admiral Ed Parker (Tony Plana) is often found running military operations in the White House Situation Room.
As they are both courting African countries for economic partnerships, Chen and Elizabeth have a more in-depth conversation about their motivations and he tells her that his father was killed during the Cultural Revolution.
In the fifth season, Chen is considered one of the potential successors to Chinese President Li and began amassing support from the National People's Congress delegates to secure his accession.
During a conversation similar to many they have had in the past, Elizabeth tells Chen about her daughter's upcoming wedding to Dmitri Petrov and her hope that they will be able see their children grow up.
Chen is seen one last time, in a non-speaking role, as a guest at Stevie McCord and Dmitri Petrov's White House wedding in the final episode.
Eventually, McCord and Jackson realize that Sterling had been working to sabotage them in order to influence Dalton unhindered, as well as escalate tensions with Russia into warfare.
Originally a captain in the Russian Army, Dmitri Petrov (Chris Petrovski) is attending the National War College when his ethics professor, Henry McCord, recruits him on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency to become an American spy in exchange for getting his sick sister medical care in Stockholm, Sweden.
During the Russian conflict with the Ukraine, Petrov serves on the staff of General Vladimir Doroshevich, Russia's ranking officer, while spying for the Americans.
Eventually, as a result of this betrayal, and after much agonizing on the realpolitik and ethics of the decision by Elizabeth and Henry McCord, at the end of the second season, Petrov is sent to America in a prisoner exchange and subsequently given a new identity in witness protection.
In the sixth season, Petrov returns to Washington after Elizabeth McCord has attained the presidency, after she arranges an amnesty for past spies between the United States and Russia.
The junior (senior as of the fifth season) Senator from Arizona, Carlos Morejon (José Zúñiga) is a political rival of both Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord and President Dalton, although he has been known to work with them on certain issues.
In the sixth season, after hearing a rumour that he is being considered as a vice presidential candidate by her Republican opponent, Elizabeth approaches Morejon and asks him to be her running mate.
The longevity of her career is also hinted at as when President Dalton addresses the nation about the invocation of the 25th Amendment, he says that Hurst has been in politics and public life for 30 years.