It sounds like Peter (Gabriel Basso) and Rose’s (Luciane Buchanan) goodbye near the end of The Night Agent Season 2 before he turned himself in (as he’d planned) for his actions during the case was it for the two. Luciane Buchanan is not returning for Season 3, Deadline reports.
“I won’t be returning to Season 3 of The Night Agent,” Buchanan said to the outlet. “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.”
She added that the show’s creator, executive producer, and showrunner Shawn Ryan and executive producer Marney Hochman explained that they weren’t sure how to fit her into the story of Season 3 and “not make her a sub-character.” She shared, “I totally respected that decision and agreed. I was like, if it makes sense to a story, I’ll do that. If it doesn’t, let’s not force that.”
Ryan added in his own statement to Deadline about Buchanan’s exit from The Night Agent, “Luciane has been a beloved member of our Night Agent family for our first two seasons and her portrayal of Rose Larkin and Rose’s relationship with Peter has been a huge part of the show’s success. We always envisioned the show as telling a new story each season with a revolving cast, and the story we broke for Season 3, much to our chagrin, didn’t have a satisfying place for Rose.”
He didn’t rule out Buchanan possibly returning for a future season, saying, “I don’t believe that this means we’re done telling the story of Peter and Rose.” Buchanan did say that she would be up for that.
This actually isn’t too surprising, given that after the Season 2 finale in January, when TV Insider asked Ryan about if Rose would remain part of the show, he told us, “The other writers and I are discussing all those questions now. We haven’t settled on anything yet that I can share.”
When it came to what he wanted to do with Peter and Rose’s relationship in Season 2 — they started it separated, then ended it that way as well — he said they wanted to be “realistic” about their time together.
It was “incredibly intense and emotional” across those two seasons, Ryan pointed out, but “it was also relatively short. They (usually) live in very different worlds and Peter’s mission from the first night he met Rose was to protect her. He realizes at the end of Season 2 how close she was to losing her life being close to him. I don’t believe that separating was harder on Rose than Peter. I think Peter just hid his pain better.” (Rose was very much in the center of the first season’s case from the start, while a call about Peter’s whereabouts drew her in during the second.)
The Night Agent Season 2 ended with Catherine (Amanda Warren) giving Peter his next mission: Do what powerful businessman Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum), who had him break into the UN to steal a file for him, asks of him when he reaches out, gain his trust, and figure out who’s on his payroll. The president’s involvement was not ruled out.
“I think in many ways Season 2 is about the consequences of breaking rules to do the right thing. For Peter, we felt that though we understand and sympathize with his choices, that often there are unintended consequences for our actions and Peter learns about such consequences at the end of the season and will feel the responsibility of dealing with the ramifications of those consequences,” Ryan told TV Insider after the finale.
Christopher Saunders / Netflix
With Buchanan not returning, it does sound like Rose might be able to leave the action of Peter’s Night Agent world in her past … at least for now. We’ll have to wait to see if Peter mentions that he’s specifically not reaching out to her, if Catherine or someone else comments on not involving her, or if there’s another way we’ll find out why she’s not around. Perhaps when Peter and Rose next cross paths now, they’ll be in better places to make a relationship work, which they haven’t been able to thus far.
How do you want to see The Night Agent handle Buchanan’s absence in Season 3? Let us know in the comments section below.
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