Rose’s Exit Looms Large in The Night Agent Season 3 — Creator and Star on Possibility of Return
The night agent shifts focus in Season 3 after Luciane Buchanan was not invited back to reprise Rose Larkin, a move the show’s creator and lead say was a creative decision that leaves the character present in memory and plot threads.
The Night Agent’s Season 3 opens without Rose
Creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan said the writers began by imagining a Peter-and-Rose story but ultimately chose a different path, pairing Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) with a new ally, financial reporter Isabel (Genesis Rodriguez), to chase a conspiracy tied to Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum). Ryan said that choice grew out of the need to tell a story involving financial institutions, a world he felt Rose’s character did not inhabit.
Rose stays present across episodes and dialogue
Season 3 references Rose directly and indirectly: the opener picks up almost a year after the Season 2 finale, Deputy Director Aiden Mosely (Ward Horton) asks Peter if he and Rose are still in touch, and Peter answers, "No, but it's safer for her. " Peter also mentions twice that there was someone he "cared about" he "couldn't make it work" and who Monroe threatened last season, keeping Rose part of the emotional stakes without her on screen.
How the writers and cast framed the decision
Ryan said the writers room "certainly discussed" a Rose-centered Season 3 but found aspects of that path would feel derivative of the first two seasons. He told cast and crew the Isabel storyline — including her revealed family tie to Jacob Monroe — offered a fresh route into corruption at high levels. Ryan added, "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. "
Buchanan herself revealed in September that she had not been invited back for Season 3. Despite that, the season’s early episodes weave Rose into conversations: in Episode 1, Peter and Isabel meet in an Istanbul bar and discuss doomed lovers while a local performer sings about two people heading in different directions. Isabel asks, "Your fault or hers?" and Peter replies, "It was mine, it was definitely mine. " That exchange ties Peter’s past choices to the new investigation he leads.
Season 3’s cast shift places Isabel at the center of a financial-world storyline, a contrast Ryan described as intentionally outside Rose’s established domain. The change alters who Peter leans on in the field and on whom the scripts can put the burden of probing institutional corruption led by figures like Monroe.
For fans hoping Rose will return, Ryan reiterated that he and the creative team would welcome Luciane Buchanan back if a suitable story appeared. In the meantime, Rose’s absence is a running thread: mentioned by name in dialogue or hinted at through Peter’s regrets, she remains a motivator for actions in multiple episodes.
The season’s opening minutes have been released for viewers to see how the new pairing unfolds, and those sequences make clear Season 3 leans into financial intrigue and Isabel’s connection to Monroe while keeping Peter’s personal losses in play.
Next on the schedule: the full season continues to roll out its episodes, and the creative team has left the door open for Rose’s return if the right storyline presents itself.
