Interview
‘The Night Agent’: Gabriel Basso & Luciane Buchanan Tease ‘Push-Pull’ Peter and Rose Relationship in Season 2
The Night Agent brought together Peter (Gabriel Basso) and Rose (Luciane Buchanan) under some very stressful circumstances in Season 1: After her aunt and uncle were attacked, he was the one on the other end of the line of the number she was told to call. They then spent the season on the run together, trying to keep her alive and solve a conspiracy that went all the way to the White House. At the beginning of Season 2 (out on Netflix on January 23), they’re apart — and, once again, they’re not going to find each other in the easiest of times.
Peter is now a night agent, the one in the field as part of the Night Action program, tackling off-the-books investigations involving national security. He and Rose parted ways, and it’s been 10 months since they’ve seen each other. In that time, Rose has taken a step back in her career, and the once CEO is now a lead programmer. “He’s out of sight but very much not out of mind,” executive producer Shawn Ryan teases as part of TV Insider’s digital cover story. A mysterious call leaves her worried about him, and so she tracks him down and finds herself right back in the middle of the action.
But the life of a night agent is tough on personal relationships. What taking on that job would mean for him and Rose hadn’t even crossed Peter’s mind, according to Basso, who likens it to significant others of those who join the military. “Peter is not the main character in real life or in that world. No one cares that him and Rose had a great relationship in Season 1 — which I don’t think personally was that great,” he admits. “I think they sort of had a little Stockholm syndrome.” He does love that fans gravitated towards that relationship, but, he cautions, “At the same time, they can’t come back and just be ignoring the fact that it only worked because they were both on the run.”
Rose knew that he wanted to take this on and wasn’t going to get in his way. However, Buchanan says, “That does leave this open question of, are they in a committed relationship or do we just leave it and maybe pick it up later? And I think that’s really fun to play because it’s like, what are they? Are they just friends, or what’s going on here? I think in Season 2 when she comes back, she’s kind of built up this expectation that things might be what it used to be, and then she’s going to learn that he’s not quite the same person that she knew.”
There are “definitely” still feelings there, she teases. “But I think Peter is not willing to show any sort of emotion,” Buchanan adds. “I think that’s part of his training. He was told to distance himself from anyone in his personal life, and you can kind of feel throughout Season 2 that push-pull. And I think Rose is kind of respecting his boundaries and being like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll sleep in the room. You sleep on the couch, we’re doing this thing. Cool.’ It’s quite a funny dynamic.”
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
While potentially continuing their romantic relationship might be up in the air, they will be working together professionally — Buchanan says they have “operational” as well as romantic chemistry — even though Peter is hesitant to include her as he investigates a potential CIA leak and a possible attack in New York. He’s trying to protect her, explains Basso.
“Peter wants to be responsible and not expose her to any risks being associated with him, especially as he’s gone AWOL. That’s not a great thing to do in the government. So if you’re going to involve someone you care about in that decision, I think there is a certain amount of responsibility that you have to assume for them. And I don’t think he wants to put her in danger or is willing to assume that responsibility,” Basso previews. “I think what’s motivating Rose is she cares for Peter and she doesn’t really understand how deep she’s jumping into this, how deep the water is. She just wants to help somebody.”
Rose “just wants to be near him,” says Buchanan. “She’s suffering, but he’s even worse, and she kind of provides that support for him — well, tries to — throughout the season.” He’s helped her, too, in learning how to open up in ways she hasn’t in previous relationships.
But a big part of this show is trust, and as Peter and Rose learned in Season 1, they can’t always put that in the people they should be able to. Now, he may not even know how he can feel about Rose. “That’s a big question of Season 2. Can Peter trust anyone anymore? Even Rose completely?” shares Ryan. “When you’ve been burned so badly by a mentor and a superior, as Peter was by Diane Farr [Hong Chau] in Season 1, trust is in short supply and must be earned gradually through actions, not words.”
As Basso points out, the two had “no choice but to trust one another” in the first season. Now, in Season 2, “It’s sort of a volitional thing. It more tests their willingness to trust each other. Yeah, I think it just puts different pressures on Peter because he shuts down, for sure.”
Can Rose trust Peter? While she expects him to be the same person, she then questions that upon seeing him again. “I think deep down she knows he’s still in there. He’s just so caught up with the job and that’s all he can see and that’s all he’s focused on,” says Buchanan. “She acts as a moral compass for him to be like, okay, yeah, this is the job and we want to save the country, but we are losing sight of things that are important and right in front of us.”
The stars “just sort of fell back into Rose and Peter’s dynamic,” even though three years had passed between filming the two seasons, shares Basso. “I’m not sure we worked together, like, ‘Oh, remember how we were doing this in Season 1 and let’s…’ I think we just knew how our characters would act and we tried to remain consistent and unaware that Peter and Rose’s relationship were popular things about Season 1. You never want to interpret what’s happening as, ‘This was popular in Season 1, let’s cater to fans this way. It should remain logically consistent, especially for you and for it to be believable.”
He enjoys working with Buchanan. “She’s great,” he tells us. “We just sort of let each other do our own thing. There were scenes where we worked out together what should happen and the pacing of it, and this is a consistent thing, but overall, it was just sort of putting on some old clothes. They fit right and we got into the swing of things for sure.”
Buchanan reveals that they adjusted to find the right dynamic between the two. “We did takes where he would play it quite angry that I had returned and all the showrunners and writers were like, ‘Oh, maybe… there’s still love there.'”
What are you hoping to see from Peter and Rose in Season 2? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Night Agent, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, January 23, Netflix
