Yahoo Lifestyle ‘The Night Agent’ EP Shawn Ryan On Season 2 Cliffhanger, Peter & Rose’s “Incredible Bond” And Who Will Be Back For Season 3
SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Season 2 of Netflix’s The Night Agent.
Season 1 of The Night Agent had a clear blueprint, Matthew Quirk’s novel, on which creator Shawn Ryan based the series. With an open-ended Season 1 finale and no source material for Season 2, Ryan and his writers had a creative license to take the character of newly minted Night Agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) anywhere they wanted.
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They opted to put him through the wringer as Peter rushed to prevent a terrorist attack on New York City while trying to keep Rose alive and searching for a mole within Night Action who may have caused the death of his partner in Bangkok. To accomplish these goals, Peter had to bend his principles, including lying to Noor, an idealistic young staffer at the Iranian UN mission, about the fate of her brother and allying with a shady businessman, Jacob Monroe. Breaking the rules sent Peter behind bars where he was interrogated before given a second chance by his boss Catherine to become a double agent, just like his traitor father.
In an interview with Deadline conducted last week, Ryan addresses the finale cliffhanger and Peter’s new mission as well as the price he will have to pay for his actions in Season 2. Ryan reveals that the Chelsea cameo in the finale is a precursor to a bigger return, discusses whether other characters, including Rose (Luciane Buchanan), would come back along with teasing the high-profile new Season 3 cast members and some surprises. He gives a status update on the new season, which already has shot some footage in Istanbul that Basso told Deadline in an interview “will shock a lot of people.” Like Season 2, the main part of Season 3 will be filmed in New York.
DEADLINE: While the Season 1 finale was open-ended, the plot of Season 2 is carrying over to Season 3 with the Jacob storyline and Peter’s new mission. Did you design Seasons 2 and 3 as a two-season arc? There were two-season cast deals hinting at that.
RYAN: We wanted Season 2 to stand on its own, and I feel like Season 2 has a satisfying conclusion, but also platforms and sets up a couple of things that will be part of Season 3. So I don’t view it as one extended season that’s being divided into two seasons, I view it as one specific story that ends but has some consequences to how Peter ended it that he’ll have to clean up as part of Season 3.
There will be new storylines in Season 3 that don’t relate at all to anything in Season 2. We want the seasons to feel separate, but there will be some carryover, and there will be some actors from Season 2 that carry over to season three.
DEADLINE: For some characters, like Peter, Catherine, Jacob and the new President, that seems obvious. But what about Rose, a breakout in the first season whom you brought back in Season 2. Yes, the series is called The Night Agent, but it’s also become the Peter and Rose show. Will Rose be back?
RYAN: We’ll see. I’ve been reluctant to talk too much about Season 3 because, even though we’ve started shooting it, we haven’t finished writing it yet. We’re still writing the last couple of episodes, we’ll have them done before we start shooting the New York portion of our filming, which begins February 3.
What I will say is that I don’t view this the way that I guess a lot of TV shows operate in that I think characters come and go and then come back to the show, depending on what the storyline for that season is. An example I would give you is that we really love the character of Chelsea in Season 1, who was played by Fola Evans-Akingbola.
It really pained me to have to call her between seasons one and two, and say, hey, the writers had been working for a few weeks, and we’re gravitating towards stories that I don’t think we have a role for you in. The story has just taken us here, and I’m so sorry, but we love you, and if there’s a chance to get you back on the show at some point, I would love to do it.
She was wonderful about it. And then, as we got towards the end, we found this opportunity to have this little cameo for her that will serve as a platform. And I will tell you, she will be part of Season 3.
As it relates to Rose, we’re still figuring all of that out. What I would say is that we don’t want to artificially create a situation where characters have to be part of a specific season on a regular basis. We want to tell the story that feels true in that moment. I am very aware that one of the big strengths of Season 1 — and what I think is a big strength in Season 2 — are Peter and Rose together. I think the relationship is really strong.
I think in Season 1, Peter protected her physically, and I think in Season 2, she protects him emotionally., and I think that’s a beautiful thing. At the same time, when the writers and I take a look at what the realities are, when we talk about the reality of how different their lives are — him as a Night Agent who’s going to be putting himself into these dangerous situations, into these worlds filled with lies and deception, and her natural role in Silicon Valley, her desire for that kind of life.
Their shared trauma from these first two seasons has built this incredible bond. But is it enough to overcome the difference in their lives and their lifestyles Is something that we spend a lot of time talking about. So, not trying to duck the question, but we’re still creatively looking into all that. This, hopefully, with the success, will be a long-running show, and the question you raise is something that we talk a lot about in the writers room.
DEADLINE: Rose was basically Night Agent in training this season, she accomplished a lot of things that the professionals couldn’t, like tracking Peter down.
RYAN: We always liked that she had a different set of skills than Peter that complimented his. When I was writing the pilot for Night Agent, I was struggling a little bit with Rose, I was trying to understand her a little bit better. Finally, I just called up Matthew Quirk, who wrote the book, and I was like, can you tell me what you were thinking of when you were writing Rose, because I’m really trying to crack her for myself a little bit.
And he said something that really unlocked a lot of things for me. He was well, Peter’s a natural rule follower, but she’s a natural rule breaker, as a lot of Silicon Valley people are. He had a father who broke the rules and got in trouble for it, and he’s terrified of falling down those footsteps. She’s got to learn to be more like him, and he’s got to learn to be more like her in order for them to succeed together.
I always thought that was an interesting path in Season 1. Season 2, we see the pitfalls of Peter isolating himself. It’s not until Rose re-enters his life and starts to say, Hey, don’t change the Peter that I know. She understands that he’s put in these morally difficult decisions, that things are very morally complicated for him, and she’s trying to work hard to preserve the dignity and the decentness of the Peter that she knows, but this job makes it very difficult.
I love Rose, I love Luciane, and we have to see where the story is going to take us long-term.
DEADLINE: Rose also was the moral compass of the second season. Meanwhile, some of Peter’s decisions were morally questionable, like lying to Noor or making a deal with Jacob to save Rose that could hurt people. You said Peter was a rule follower but he broke quite a few rules this season.
RYAN: Yeah, and I think it goes against his nature because essentially, when you have two basic characteristics — one is I’m a rule follower, the other is I’m a good person and I want to help people — and those two things come in conflict with each other where I can’t honor both sides of me, I have to choose one side over the other.
I’ve talked before about lessons I’ve learned working with David Mamet on The Unit, and he would always say that good drama isn’t the choice between right and wrong. Good drama is a choice between two wrongs. Season 1 was very morally uncomplicated for Peter. It was logistically very difficult, very hard to keep Rose safe, but he knew what the mission was, believed in the mission; oh, now they’re trying to kill the President, I’ve got to go and try to stop that. That was still very morally digestible for him.
One thing we tried really hard to do in Season 2 was to make things morally much more ambiguous and much more complicated for him, so the pleasure of that is seeing his discomfort in those decisions. You reference him lying to Noor, I really love that moment, Munis Rashid wrote that episode. What I really love about Gabriel’s performance is, he tells that lie. The women in the room all start hugging each other and celebrating, and he has this private moment where he shows us, the audience, how sick to his stomach he is in his mind that he had to do that.
I think that moment was elevated by Gabriel’s performance, and that’s what we’re trying to go for, that when you have to do something that’s uncomfortable, when you have to do something that goes against your basic characteristics that have defined you as a person because you are trying to achieve a certain result that you know to be a higher good, that there’s a price that your soul pays for that. We’ve seen Peter in Season 2 pay that price.
DEADLINE: Polyglot Night Agent Sami from the Noor storyline was a nice Season 2 addition, he seems like a hero waiting to happen. Will we see more of him?
RYAN: Again, we’re still writing Season 3, so I don’t want to say, but Marwan [Kenzari], when I talked to him, I talked to him about the fluidity of this show and the ability for people to come in and come out, and that this universe brings people back. What I will say is that he lived up to everything that I asked him about when we discussed the role and nothing would make me happier than to see more of him on the way.
DEADLINE: You revealed a new conspiracy at the end of the finale. It feels like we barely got into Night Action with Peter, and now he’s going off-books, off Night Action. What can you say about the new territory you’re sending Peter into as a double agent, and how much politics will we see on the show? Season 2 already touched upon some of the incoming President’s policies.
RYAN: We tell stories that involve people in high positions of power. We tell stories about individuals who are going up against systems, whether it’s Peter going up against corrupt people in the intelligence community, whether it’s Noor going up against people in her government who are limiting her freedom. So the stories we always approach from a personal angle, we don’t approach them from a political angle.
We’re not trying to draw a direct parallel to some specific politician or political position. What we’re trying to do is hit on basic tenets of freedom, being a good citizen, these kinds of things.
We’re still crafting Season 3, so I’m reluctant to talk too specifically about it. But what I will say is that Peter, because he is a good, decent person at the end of Season 2, he realizes that, while he got the desired result of saving Rose, stopping the attack on the UN, that the actions that he took to achieve that had some unintended consequences that could be even bigger, perhaps, than the things he stopped. That will be a part of Season 3, him trying to emotionally and logistically deal with the unintended consequences of his actions in season 2.
DEADLINE: Peter has been in a dark place, obviously still dealing with the trauma from Season 1, losing his partner, and the legacy of his father. Will he be more well adjusted next season or is it going to still be hard for him?
RYAN: I’m going to see how it’s played and how it’s edited. I know how a lot of it’s written. The goal isn’t darkness but what I would say is — and I’m involved in a coalition that talks a lot about how mental health is portrayed on TV — one of the things that we wanted to do in Season 2 was model Rose’s behavior as being how you want to approach trauma and violence in your life. She’s seeking professional help, and she’s making progress.
Peter, on the other hand, is approaching it in a very old fashioned, very masculine, frankly, way of burying it, ignoring it, and that doesn’t often work. I’m always adamant that I don’t want the show to become so dark and impenetrable, so I think you’re going to see a lot of sides of Peter in Season 3 in the same way that you did in Season 2. I hear your question, and no, the show isn’t about going to the abyss with Peter.
DEADLINE: Season 3 already has started filming, and you are adding some big names to the cast, Jennifer Morrison, Stephen Moyer, David Lyons. I know Jennifer is playing the First Lady, but what can you tease about their characters?
RYAN: Well, it’s interesting. This is in no way to out any of these people but the big names you’re talking about all auditioned for us and all won these roles and really wanted to be a part of the show, a part of the family. One thing I’ve tried really hard to do is not only make a show that people can be proud that they’re in, but one thing I’ve been selling all these actors on and trying to sell their agents on is the process of making this show we want to be really enjoyable.
We work really hard to be a non-harassing environment, a supportive place where people really enjoy the process of making the show. And when you signal that to the town, I think there are people that are willing to fight for these jobs. And so Jennifer came in and really won that role. Someone like Stephen Moyer came in with an audition that just knocked our socks off. We just had a Zoom call with him the other day, talking about things, and as writers, we left that room just so excited that he’s going to play that role and excited to do a little rewriting of some of this stuff based on what we talked about.
All I can tease is that, even though it’s incredibly difficult to create a new world each season and create all these new characters, there’s something that I think keeps the show fresh, that is a great challenge to us as writers that we love, and that in the same way that you wouldn’t watch Season 1 and then expect that Iranian mission storyline In Season 2, I would say there would be some storylines that you wouldn’t expect in Season 3 just based on watching Season 2.
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