There were only two actors on The Night Agent who were series regulars in the first two seasons: Gabriel Basso, who plays main protagonist Peter Sutherland, and Luciane Buchanan, who plays cybersecurity extraordinaire Rose Larkin. Well, ahead of The Night Agent Season 3’s release, it’s been revealed that Buchanan will not be back for the next round of action in the Netflix subscription-exclusive series. The actress, as well as The Night Agent creator, executive producer and showrunner Shawn Ryan, explained the reasoning behind her departure, but there may also be some good news to take away from this.
While speaking about her new TV series Chief of War (which can be streamed with an Apple TV+ subscription), Luciane Buchanan informed Deadline that The Night Agent’s writing team decided that there wasn’t room for Rose in Season 3, though that doesn’t necessarily spell the end of the character. She said:
I won’t be returning to Season 3 of The Night Agent. As much as that show has been so amazing, especially for my career — being a lead on a U.S. show from little New Zealand was such a whirlwind — the writers decided that they wanted to follow Peter and his journey based on what happened at the end of Season 2. And so, we don’t get to see what happens to Rose, but I think it’s a really exciting time for the show, and who knows, it’s not a goodbye forever.
In The Night Agent Season 2 finale, Peter and Rose decided that they could no longer be together because of the risk it posed to her, and Peter was arrested shortly thereafter. While he was later released so that he could work as a double agent against the mysterious Jacob Monroe for Night Action, Rose returned to California, was promoted at AdVerse, and checked in on Noor Taheri, who’d been resettled with her mom. Whatever threats Peter Sutherland has to deal with in Season 3, they won’t put Rose in the crosshairs this time around.
There wasn’t a lack of trying to bring Rose Larkin back for The Night Agent Season 3. Luciane Buchanan mentioned that the writers called her “not so long” after Season 2 and told her that they’d been trying to find a way to bring Rose into the next batch of episodes, but they wanted to “do her character justice and not make her a sub-character.” Buchanan “respected that decision,” and at least it sounds like the door’s been left open for Rose to come back if The Night Agent continues past Season 3. Shawn Ryan echoed that sentiment in a separate statement to Deadline:
I adore Luciane as a person and as a performer and I don’t believe that this means we’re done telling the story of Peter and Rose. I hope circumstances ultimately allow for the return of Rose to our Night Agent universe.
After acknowledging that Peter and Rose’s relationship has been “a huge part” of The Night Agent’s success, Ryan said that with the way the Season 3 story had been broken, the writers “didn’t have a satisfying place for Rose.” Thankfully, they sound willing to loop her back into The Night Agent for potential future seasons should the opportunity arise. The trick is if the action thriller series can last past three seasons, a milestone that few Netflix originals have accomplished.
But if that’s in the cards, then Luciane Buchanan is confident “Shawn Ryan and his team will find a little way” for Rose Larkin to reenter the picture, even if it’s just “a little cameo.” Meanwhile, The Night Agent Season 3 wrapped filming in July, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of Fola Evans-Akingbola’s Chelsea Harrington in it. Expect the next season to premiere next year rather than squeezed in among the 2025 Netflix release dates.
