SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Season 3 of Netflix’s The Night Agent.
In Season 3, Netflix’s The Night Agent explores the dark side of finance and its ties to terrorism and political corruption at the highest level which reaches the White House. As hinted in the Season 2 finale, Season 3 confirmed that new U.S. President Richard Hagan (Ward Horton) is in the pocket of shady intelligence broker Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum).
It is subsequently revealed that it was actually the First Lady (Jennifer Morrison) who made a deal with Monroe when her husband’s campaign was floundering. When her Secret Service agent Chelsea (Fola Evans-Akingbola) becomes suspicious, she becomes the target of a smear campaign, which prompts her to reach out to Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) for help in a re-team from Season 1.
Peter’s Night Action mission to track down Jay (Suraj Sharma), a young Treasury Agent who fled to Istanbul with sensitive government intel after killing his boss, leads Peter to a dark money network, which he starts investigating with the help of Isabel (Genesis Rodriguez), a relentless financial journalist.
Monroe also becomes interested in Jay. A planned FBI operation aimed at using Jay’s handover by Peter to catch the elusive Monroe red-handed goes sideways after Monroe uses a decoy car rigged with explosives resulting in Peter’s boss Catherine (Amanda Warren) and her team walking into a trap and Catherine getting killed only two episodes into the season.
As Peter and Isabel dig dipper, they try to evade assassins sent by the banker servicing the dark money network, including the mysterious Father (Stephen Moyer), as well as Adam (David Lyons), an old army buddy of the President whom Hagan assigns to Night Action to keep tabs on Peter, Isabel and later Chelsea before he orders him to kill them.
They all live but Adam does kill Monroe who had agreed to cooperate with the FBI. And oh, yeah, Isabel turned out to be Monroe’s estranged daughter.
In an interview with Deadline, The Night Agent creator/showrunner Shawn Ryan addresses the creative reasons for killing Catherine off and Warren’s reaction to the news. He provides several major clues about the Los Angeles-set potential fourth season, which has not been ordered yet but is currently in the writers room. (Ryan expects a decision in the next few weeks.)
That includes information on the world the season will be set in and the partner Peter will be getting, as teased by Deputy Director Mosley (Albert Jones) in the Season 3 finale.
He also answers burning questions from Season 3, reveals the story behind the Peter’s “FU” line to the President, which had been scripted differently, and addresses the danger of political power when it falls into the wrong hands.
For Ryan’s explanation of the reasons for writing Rose (Luciane Buchanan) off in Season 3 and whether she could return in future seasons, you can read Deadline’s story, in which Ryan and Basso also discuss the ways Rose’s absence impacted Peter in Season 3. For status update on the rumored The Night Agent spinoff, you can read our story on the topic here.
Amanda Warren as Catherine Weaver in episode 302 of ‘The Night Agent.’
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
Catherine’s Untimely Demise
Monroe’s bait and switch with the cars was a devious move but Catherine is very experienced, she should’ve been prepared for a surprise, so her walking into that trap felt a little out of character.
What was that thinking behind the decision to kill her off and so early into the season?
RYAN: We spent a lot of time talking about a lot of different permutations in the writers room. One thing that we were intent on doing in Season 3 was seeing Peter’s evolution as a night agent. In Season 1, he is not even a night agent, he’s offered a night agent job at the end of the season. In Season 2, he’s the newest kind of rookie, he has Brittany Snow’s Alice as a mentor, and there’s a certain naiveté that he brings in early on in that.
Season 3, we wanted to see him start to fully become a little bit more comfortable as a night agent and start to step into some leadership shoes. And so when it was discussed, this idea of, not only is it that Catherine dies, but dies at the hands of the broker who’s been his nemesis, and that Peter loses Jay to the broker in this whole process is the kind of mistake and fall that I think jumpstarts the rest of the season. Peter having to do everything he does in the course of Season 3 without Catherine, without her mentorship and leadership, forces him to grow a little bit more into that role.
So, as I look at the show over many seasons and what his evolution as a night agent might be, to me this was the best step in Season 3 to take. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t hard and sad conversations. I called Amanda because actors are waiting for, am I going to get picked up for this next season or not? We had an option on her, but we had this thing where, well, we don’t need her for the whole season, but we do really want her for the first two episodes, and that wasn’t a contingent that’s in the contract.
So you’ve got to call the actress and explain creatively what you’re trying to do. And to her credit, she really embraced the storyline. I thought she did a fantastic job in the two episodes she was in, and she totally understood how this could benefit the show and benefit Peter’s character. So she was a real, true team player in that regard.
You and I came up in this era when people were on shows, and it was a big deal if they were off the show at a certain point, and there’s almost this perception that if they’re written off the show that, oh, there’s some drama behind the scenes, or the producers didn’t like the actor, or the actor wanted off the show for some reason.
And I think we’re now in this era where the storytelling has changed, and the storytelling demands more fluidity across the casting thing and so as with Rose, as with Catherine, these were story choices we made. People will agree with them and disagree with them, but all we can do in the writers room is work to tell the best stories we can.
Major Season 4 Clues
As Ryan revealed to Deadline, a writers room for a potential fourth season is currently underway, with a renewal decision he expects in the next couple of weeks. And 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 Los Angeles after two seasons in New York. Here is more information Ryan provided about the new installment.
After finance in Season 3, what world will The Night Agent tackle in Season 4 and how does it tie to Los Angeles?
While Ryan says the world in Season 4 is a secret, “there’s a world that we’re in, it’s a world that exists in Los Angeles, which is the creative reason why we moved the show to Los Angeles, because it’s a world that is present in Los Angeles, it’s not present in New York for the most part.”
And no, it’s not Hollywood, Ryan confirmed. He later added that “there’s something in the Los Angeles region that exists at a much bigger level than New York,” leaving it to fans to solve the mystery.
Will other characters besides Peter return for Season 4 and who may they be?
The Night Agent tells largely a new story each season, with some crossover from previous installments. Deputy Director Mosley, Peter’s current boss, is a logical choice to continue, with Chelsea, Adam, The Father, Jay and Isabel among possibilities. Have the writers decided who they are going to bring back?
“The answer is yes, but I don’t want to share any of that yet because it could always change,” Ryan said. “One thing we’ve discovered in the first three seasons of making this show, it’s a very serialized show, a lot of pieces that hold together. One thing we’ve realized is that we do our best work when we get through the season and then allow ourselves time to go back and to change things in the earlier episodes. Just because we finished writing in episode three doesn’t mean that that’s locked forever in crystal. We go back and we change a lot of things because we discover things along the way. So I have an idea of which characters would return, but certainly, until there’s actually an official pickup, there’s no reason to go into it. And I want to get further into the creative of the season to make sure that what we start with is what we want to finish with.”
Is Rose in play for return since The Night Agent is coming to California where she lives?
Ryan would not say, but noted that she technically lives in the Bay Area while Season 4 would take place in Los Angeles.
Who is Peter’s new partner?
At the end of the Season 3 finale, Mosley told Peter that he was getting a partner. Ryan would not disclose the identity of said partner but helped rule out a number of candidates, including Chelsea.
“I don’t want to say anything other than it’s a new character that we’ve never met before,” Ryan said.
In his interview with Deadline, Basso had a rather radical view of what kind of a partner he would like for Peter, which is the opposite of writers’ desire “to attach him to characters, like, tether him.”
“I think, ironically, someone who’s more intense than he is I think would help Peter see the logical end result of him being always switched on,” he said. “I think having a character that is Peter dialed to 100 would force Peter to go, whoa, I’m this, this is what it’s like to work with me?”
Will Peter stay away from romantic relationships because of his job going forward?
Ryan was noncommittal. “I don’t know,” he said. Still, “by the end of the season, Peter is thinking about, how do I achieve some balance in my life between the various things that I want,” Ryan noted.
Basso shared his own take. “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,” he said. “But I think if anyone, he would probably try to find Rose again and track her down and see what happens with that.”
Will Season 4 have an international location to kick things off?
In both Seasons 2 and 3, Peter found himself on a mission abroad — in Thailand and Türkiye respectively — for some top-level action in the premiere episode to start the season. Will that continue, and have Ryan and his team settled on an international locale for the Season 4 opener?
“I don’t want to say too much about Season 4, but I will answer this particular question,” Ryan said. “We don’t want to get into a rut so at the moment, there is no international location planned at the beginning of Season 4.”
Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland in episode 305 of The Night Agent.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
Line Switch: The Story Behind Peter’s ‘FU’ To The President
One of Season 3’s most memorable lines came at the end of Episode 9. With Peter, Isabel and Chelsea closing in on exposing the first couple’s shady dealings with Monroe, Chelsea was abducted by President Hagan’s henchman Adam. As Peter was rushing to save her from grave danger, he got a call from the President himself who gave him a direct order to stand down. When Peter refused, Hagan called his actions treason, adding “just like your father but, apples and trees, I suppose.”
That evoked this glorious response from Peter: “With all due respect, Sir… f*ck you,” followed by him hanging up on the Commander In Chief.
The line was not improvised, it was written that way, Ryan said. But there is something unusual about its origin.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Ryan said. “That scene was actually written for Episode 10, and the scene where Peter calls for Night Action and is told this is no longer a valid code was originally written for Episode 9. We flipped them in editing. The scene you are referencing is at the end of 9 because after that, the President goes on the air and we end with him saying, ‘God bless the United States of America.’ I believe Minus Rashid, the writer of Episode 10, wrote that line, and then we took it and put in a different episode.”
Added Ryan, “That’s an example of the time that you have when you’re making a show on Netflix, you see these episodes put together. That felt like the most powerful moment of those two scenes, and as a result, we chose to have that be the punctuation moment near the end of Episode 9, and have the calling up Night Action near the beginning of Episode 10.
(L to R) Ward Horton as Governor Richard Hagan, Jennifer Morrison as Jenny Hagan in episode 309 of ‘The Night Agent’.
Courtesy of Netflix
Night Action: When Presidential Power Goes Unchecked
While fictional, The Night Agent draws parallels to real life, including the President pardoning himself and his wife on the way out in the Season 3 finale. There is also the idea of the President being in charge of the Night Action program.
Isn’t it dangerous to have trained killers serving at the pleasure and under the command of the President with no oversight? In light of what’s been happening with ICE, the concept rings differently this season.
“I don’t want to talk about how it might relate to current politics, but what I will say is that you are reading our writers room mail for Season 4, so you’re absolutely right,” Ryan said. “There are people that would look at these actions and have a very different point of view than Peter about whether this is a good organization or not, is what I would say. That’s a major thrust of Season 4. So now you have sucked something out of me that I didn’t intend to give but your question is too smart and too good.”
Ryan went on to elaborate.
“I think you’re absolutely right. An organization is only as good as the people operating it. I think that you can say the same thing about the CIA and the FBI, that they can have noble intentions, but if they are operated and run by someone with evil intentions, they can become a corruptible organization. One of the things that we talked about going into the Season 4 writers room — and we say this every year — if all the things that happened in the previous season really happened, what would the result of that be? And one of the things we discussed is, boy, the President really did turn Night Action a little bit into his own personal black bag operation. And what would the reaction be to that, if that really happened? That’s something we’re investigating in a Season 4.”
David Lyons as Adam in episode 304 of ‘The Night Agent’.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
Misc Season 3 Questions: No Seatbelt Crash, Banker’s Murder, etc
How in the world did Adam survive a violent, high-speed rollover crash with no seatbelt on?
Adam walked away from it with just a couple of bumps and bruises and no visible bone fractures or concussion as he continued to pursue Chelsea on foot. This is not what we’re supposed to teach kids about wearing seatbelts.
“What I would say is that there are instances of people surviving, and that certainly he was worse off than Chelsea, who was wearing her seatbelt, he was pretty beat-up,” Ryan said. “I would say that, by comparison, kids should wear their seatbelts.”
Will Peter join Isabel in Spain?
Peter’s 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.”
The father, does he have a name?
“We didn’t give him or the son proper names,” Ryan said.
Did The Father kill the banker for business or pleasure? Was it personal, because she threatened him, or did he do it for money, hired by one of her clients who was burnt by her going public?
“Well, my interpretation would be that in their last phone call, she threatened not only him, but everyone he loved, and that was a loose thread that he wasn’t willing to tolerate,” Ryan said. “He wanted to get out of the life but I think she f*cked with the wrong person. No, I think he’s getting out of the business. I think this was the last freebie to kind of clear the way and protect his son.”
(L to R) Stephen Moyer as The Father, Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland in episode 308 of ‘The Night Agent’.
Courtesy of Netflix
The Interrogation Scene & The Father’s Son’s Daddy Issues
Peter has always been stern, focused, driven. While tormented inside, including the guilt he felt this season over his deal with Monroe, he has had his feelings bottled up until the interrogation where he let loose and got in touch with his emotions after he was drugged by The Father.
Talk about the significance of that scene.
RYAN: I’ve been around a lot of guys who have worked as police officers, who’ve worked as detectives, who’ve worked as Navy SEALs, who’ve worked as homicide detectives, who’ve worked as Delta Force. Everyone’s different, but I think one thing that generally holds true is that these guys aren’t as outwardly sharing of their emotions as a lot of other people in different aspects of life, and I think Peter is someone who holds a lot inside, and I think that’s emotionally true for his character.
At the same time, a TV audience wants to access those emotions and wants to know what their characters are thinking and doing in these moments. So we had a lot conversations about, was there a way to grant access to Peter, to give Peter permission, essentially, to open up more. And as our storyline developed, and we had The Father taking Peter prisoner and trying to get information out of him, we came up with this idea.
We did a lot of research — that drug that he references is a real drug, and the effects of it, as we described, are real. We felt like we had earned the opportunity here for Peter, almost against his will, to open up in ways that he hasn’t before. I think Gabriel’s performance in those sequences is really terrific. I think it’s the best work that he’s done as an actor on our show. I thought Stephen Moyer was such a wonderful partner, he didn’t lean into the evil side of it all. There’s almost something empathetic about the way that he talks to Peter in all this.
Listen, I think Peter’s got some emotional problems, some of which are probably undiagnosed. He’s somebody who has this compulsion. Is it because of something in him, is it because of his father’s legacy? He really badly goes to great lengths to help people. And one of the things we’ve discussed in the writers room — and I think it will be something that gets explored more if and when we get to make Season 4 — is the idea that he feels so compelled to help people because he hasn’t yet figured out how to help himself.
Those were the creative origins of telling that kind of story in those scenes, was a way for Peter to be forced to confront some of the demons that he has.
The Father got a nice sendoff; he seemed reformed by the end, happy with his son. Well, the kid will still have to go to therapy at some point with everything The Father had done, including killing his biological parents.
RYAN: Well, we’ll see what the kid ultimately learns. He’s a smart kid but for the moment, he has an idealized version in his head of who his father is,
Genesis Rodriguez as Isabel in episode 302 of ‘The Night Agent’.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
That Supersized Monroe Flashback
The Night Agent episodes have structure: they start with a brief flashback scene involving one of the characters before the present-time storyline resumes. The series shook things up this season with an extended flashback telling Monroe and Isabel’s mother’s story of love and betrayal, which spanned about two-thirds of an episode.
Ryan shared the backstory of what he called “much deeper, longer flashbacks than we usually do,” that were filmed in Mexico City, one of record three international locations utilized in the season along with Istanbul and the Dominican Republic, which houses the water tank used for the underwater fight in Episode 1.
“That was something that the writers room pitched me that probably, for the first minute I was hearing it, I was a little bit skeptical.” Ryan said. “But as I got deeper into the pitch and I heard what they wanted to do, I really began to love this origin story of the broker, of Jacob Monroe, the idea that he was on the other end of these extortion tactics — he learned to implement them because he was the victim of them — to get into his original sin, his original sin being not to fight harder to save the woman he loved when Zapata felt that he was the mole in the company, and how it had led to this life of isolation and loneliness and evil.
Added Ryan, “The more I started hearing all that, the more I really embraced the idea. We also had a director, Hiromi Kamata is her name, she was a DGA Award nominee for Shōgun, really terrific. She’s of half Japanese, half Mexican descent, but she lives in Mexico City, she filmed all that. As a resident, she knows that area so well, she was integral in the local casting, the locations, the local crew, we would have had a much harder time pulling that off without her.”
While the decision was driven by creative, the extended flashback also helped break up the show’s pattern.
“I don’t want to become too formulaic as a show,” Ryan said. “And this was an episode, followed up by Episode 8 that we talked about, with the Peter-Father interrogation. These sorts of things I think, are what keep the show fresh and allow us to tell new stories in new seasons and not feel like we’re just treading over the same grounds.