Why Rose Larkin From The Night Agent Looks So Familiar
Viewers of the new Netflix thriller series "The Night Agent" are hopefully enjoying the cloak-and-dagger drama, based on the book of the same name, involving the threat of a Russian mole infiltrating the United States government. Gabriel Basso stars as Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent who gets ensnared in a sinister conspiracy that brings him close to one Rose Larkin. Larkin is a corporate executive whose aunt and uncle were American spies murdered by the bad guys when they discovered the same conspiracy as the hero of the story.
Rose is played by Luciane Buchanan, an actress from New Zealand with a handful of credits you might have seen her in before. If her character in "The Night Agent" has you scratching your head a bit trying to figure out where you know her from, it's not because she's actually a Russian spy. You probably just saw her on one of these other TV shows.
She has early roles was on multiple New Zealand series including Filthy Rich
If Rose Arkin on "The Night Agent" looks familiar to you, it might be because Luciane Buchanan has stuck in your memory from her time on "The Blue Rose." Buchanan appears in 11 episodes of "The Blue Rose," all as the character of Aroha Nash.
After "The Blue Rose," Buchanan made her way to one episode of "The Brokenwood Mysteries," the long-running New Zealand mystery series. Buchanan appears in Season 3, Episode 3 of the show, entitled "The Killing Machine." Buchanan plays Tai Smith, a minor figure in the investigation of what initially appears to be the murder of a thief that broke into a mechanic's shop. Following this appearance, Buchanan got a gig on the drama "Common Ground," putting in four episodes as Leigh Williams. But her biggest role in New Zealand TV came on the series "Filthy Rich." She appears in 32 episodes (all but one) of the series in the role of Kennedy, daughter of Nancy Truebridge (Elizabeth Hawthorne).
If you were a viewer of New Zealand serialized TV shows between the years 2013 and 2016, it's possible you spotted Buchanan before her attention-getting role on "The Night Agent."
She plays Louisa in a flashback on an episode of Sweet Tooth
One of Luciane Buchanan's most high-profile acting jobs before "The Night Agent" came in Season 1, Episode 8 of the Netflix series "Sweet Tooth," based on the comic series by Jeff Lemire. Flashbacks in the episode, "Big Man," show Buchanan in the role of Louisa, who gives birth to the human-animal hybrid child of protagonist Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), the titular "Big Man" himself. Unfortunately, we don't see much of what else happened to Louisa in the episode after Jepperd attempts to run away from his child in horror before being convinced to return to his family. Either way, the flashback is an emotional and memorable one that could easily stick in one's memory after watching it.
A trailer for "Sweet Tooth" Season 2 was recently released, and it's just possible that we'll see more from the character of Louisa, although the show isn't currently listed among Buchanan's upcoming credits on IMDb.
She appears in an episode of Mr. Corman
If you were part of the small but devoted audience for the Apple TV+ series "Mr. Corman" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, you might have seen Luciane Buchanan there. Buchanan appeared in Season 1, Episode 7 of the show, titled "Many Worlds." The episode follows Gordon-Levitt's character on a voyage through the different parallel timelines of his life had he made certain different choices at key moments. Buchanan plays a figure from one of those parallel timelines, Astrid.
Unfortunately, fans of "Mr. Corman" already got the news that the show has not been picked up for Season 2, so a return engagement from Astrid is pretty much off the table.
But now that you can see her in a much more prominent role in "The Night Agent," it's a pretty good time to be a fan of Luciane Buchanan. And if her career continues to take off, you can say with pride that you recognized her early on.