SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Season 3 of Netflix‘s The Night Agent.
For two seasons, The Night Agent‘s Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) had Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) by his side — to protect, to lean on — and eventually fall in love with. In Season 3, he is going it alone. As Buchanan revealed to Deadline in September, she was not invited back for Season 3 of Netflix’s political thriller.
Instead, Peter was paired up with tenacious financial reporter Isabel (Genesis Rodriguez) — whose father turned out to be none other than the shady intelligence broker Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum) — to uncover a conspiracy and corruption that goes all the way to the White House.
Rose’s departure was not entirely surprising — Peter told her at the end of Season 2 to stay away and not contact him again for her own safety. Still, Rose has proven time and time again that she is not very good at following directions, making a Season 3 return by her plausible — and welcomed by fans.
“In the writers room, we certainly discussed it, in fact, that was our starting position: What would a Peter-Rose-centric story in Season 3 look like?,” The Night Agent creator/showrunner Shawn Ryan said. “There were moments in that conversation that felt a little derivative of the first couple seasons. And then we challenged ourselves, what would it look like without Rose the season, and we came up with a lot of what you see in Season 3. So it was completely a creative decision.”
Added Ryan, “I love Luciane as an actress, I love her as a person, and if and when we have the right storyline for her we’ll beg her to come back to the show. But in this case, we came up with the idea of Isabel as Jacob Monroe’s estranged daughter, the financial world, which is not Rose’s world at all. The concept of all these awful things that happen in the world couldn’t really be happening without the cooperation and protection of these financial institutions, it felt like we needed a character in that world, and then obviously the character having the connection — as [Isabel] did — to Monroe, that felt like the best story for us.”
Ryan is aware how invested fans are in Rose as a character and Peter and Rose as a couple, with many voicing their disappointment over Buchanan’s exit.
“Yeah, I know it’s a topic,” he said. “I don’t mind answering it, because my answer has always been consistent. I love Luciane and I’d love to see Rose on the show again at some point. This was the best story that we felt we could tell.”
Rose’s Presence In Season 3
Season 3 of The Night Agent featured several direct and indirect references to Rose, her whereabouts and her relationship with Peter.
In the season opener, which picks up almost a year after the Season 2 finale, Deputy Director Aiden Mosely (Ward Horton) asked Peter if the two are still in touch.
“No, but it’s safer for her,” Peter replied.
Peter also mentioned in two different instances that there was someone he “cared about” that he “couldn’t make it work” and whom Monroe threatened last season.
While never mentioned by name, Rose came up in several conversations between Peter and Isabel.
In their very first encounter at an Istanbul bar in Episode 1, they chatted over a local performer’s song, which, fittingly for Peter and Rose’s history, told the story of two lovers who were doomed because they were going in different directions.
“Your fault or hers?,” Isabel asked Peter about his own doomed romance. “It was mine, it was definitely mine,” he said. “My job got in the way.”
“She didn’t break my heart,” Peter told Isabel over a game of pool in a subsequent episode. “We just can’t be together.”
He also brought up Rose when asked how he got through being falsely accused.
“I had a partner, someone who believed me,” he said. “Sometimes that’s enough.”
All in all, Rose Larkin was only mentioned by name twice in Season 3, by Mosely in the premiere and when Monroe leveled a fresh threat that “my next bonfire will be in California over Rose Larkin’s house” if Peter did not cooperate.
This kind of defied the purpose of Peter asking Rose to stay away for her own protection and so she won’t be used to get to him.
“While Rose isn’t in Season 3, her presence still hangs over Peter from off Season 3,” Ryan said about that. “I don’t think Peter’s over her, and it wasn’t a case of, oh, well, let’s eject her, and let’s just bring in a new girl, and he’ll fall for her, and we’ll just lean into those tropes. That wasn’t of interest to us, and I think Peter made a mistake thinking that doing this would remove any risk to her. I think that’s the realization that he has to face, and by the end of the season, he’s thinking about, how do I achieve some balance in my life between the various things that I want. So that was of interest to us to explore as well.”
Basso also spoke about Rose’s presence in Season 3 as well as the impact of her absence on Peter.
“Rose might not be present physically, but she is a presence mentally,” he said. “She was a very significant person for Peter, and I don’t think that he’s the kind of person that just forgets things and moves on. So she might not be there on screen, but she’s definitely still a motivating factor in his life. And I think he’s definitely taking away things that she’s told him and applying them to his situation in Season 3. She might be back in Season 4. Chelsea came back for Season 3.”
Added Basso, “I think that these people that are in his life, that are important to him, he doesn’t just forget about because they’re off screen. Yeah, I think he did a good job. It’s tough, but I think it removed an element of hesitancy for him; now he’s able to fully be this, and he’s figuring out that the demand is high.”
Rose Could Return In Future Seasons
Ryan also used the example of Fola Evans-Akingbola, who plays Secret Service Agent Chelsea, a series regular in Season 1 who was not in Season 2 save for a cameo in the finale to set up her Season 3 series regular return as a blueprint for what might happen with Buchanan.
“I don’t think it necessarily means no more Rose ever on The Night Agent,” he said. “I think we’ve established ourselves as a show that each season delves into a different world with different things going on. Chelsea was a big part of Season 1. She was just in one little scene at the end of Season 2, and then she came back in a major role in Season 3.”
As Deadline reported in November, The Night Agent was awarded a California tax credit, so if the series is renewed for a fourth season, it will be set in the Golden State, which is where Rose happens to live too.
Asked whether this is a clue to a potential Rose return, Ryan clarified that she technically lives in the Bay area while Season 4 would take place in Los Angeles. And, while he confirmed that he and his writers plan to bring back other characters besides Peter, Ryan remained mum on whether Rose may be one of them.
He did make it clear though that Buchanan is not under contract anymore. Like all series regulars, the show had an option on her for Season 3. When a decision was made not to have her back, she was released from that option.
“So if and when the time came that we wanted Rose back, we’d have to go to Luciane and say, hey, we have an idea,” Ryan said. “Now, when I talked to her about that decision after Season 2, I was very clear with her, Hey, this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of you on the show. And there very well may be a time where I call and beg you to come back, whether it’s for a whole season, whether it’s for an episode or two, whatever. I believe that she enjoyed Rose on the show, and I’d like to think she’d do it but she’s earning the right to make that decision herself at this point.”
In her interview with Deadline, Buchanan also was hopeful about a possible return.
“If there is an opportunity that makes sense to the story for her to come back, I’m sure they’ll explore that, because they really loved the dynamics of Peter and Rose, and I know a lot of audiences loved that dynamic,” she said. “So I’m sure Shawn Ryan and his team will find a little way; maybe we’ll make a little cameo along the way.”
Is Peter Swearing Off Romance?
Peter did not have a love interest in Season 3. His relationship with Isabel never became romantic, through there was some ambiguity in the finale, with her telling him that she was going to Spain as he revealed that he was taking time off, leaving things open for the duo.
“I don’t think there is ambiguity, he’s not joining her in Spain,” Ryan said. “That’s the way I view it. If you thought there was ambiguity, that’s an entirely valid viewpoint. I personally didn’t think that we were suggesting that he was going to go off with Isabel to Spain.”
Basso also weighed in on Peter not developing a relationship with Isabel and whether he will swear off romance for the rest of his career so he does not put anybody else at risk.
“He still loves Rose,” he said. “I don’t think he is this character that’s like, oh, Rose isn’t here, so I’m gonna do this. I think he wants a relationship, but at this point in his life and how important he sees this job and rooting out corruption and doing the right thing, I think that ultimately is more important to him than having a relationship. But I think if anyone, he would probably try to find Rose again and track her down and see what happens with that.”
Until then, Basso is staying in touch with Buchanan.
“We text every now and then, I texted her during the season,” he said. “Everybody missed her. Everybody on set loves her, she was great to have, and her presence as Luciane was missed for sure.”
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